Solarized Film Frame from “Snake Handlers” 2001
New Robotic Technology Enables Digital Oil Paintings
We’re on the cusp of a new era in fine-art painting. Recently developed robotic painting devices will enable Photoshop software to be used as a painting tool. This will completely disrupt the way paintings are made and distributed.
William A. Brown 2023
These high definition works are best viewed on a forty inch screen. Alternately zoom in to fill the frame with each image.
Latest Digital Pre-Painting Created in Photoshop. To be Rendered Robotically as an Oil Painting.
Metal Mettle Medal #01 2024
I‘m told this short informational video about my work is actually entertaining. Music generously provided by Bruce Hampton
Public Domain Art Deconstructed & Reconstructed:
The Metal Montage Series: Turning Metallic Trash Into Art.
Metal Mettle Medal Series #16 2024
Metal Mettle Medal Series #09 2024
Using a Computer to Randomly Mix 544,000 Photographs and Public Domain Art Works:
Video Works 1979-2019
Still Photography 1979-2019
Contact Information and C.V.
Four stills from Drop Test, an experimental hyper slow motion film made in 1979.
Comparison of Digital Files with Oil on Board Robotically Created Paintings:
About My Art Practice
I’ve had a quietly successful career as a video and photography artist but I’ve always kept an interest in the work of great painters, particularly European painters since the Renaissance. Being honest, I’ve always wanted to paint but felt challenged by the haptic skills required to be a painter. In fact, I’ve longed for a technology that would allow me to create paintings directly from Photoshop files. That day has arrived. Art Matr, a start up in Tuxedo, New York, has developed a device capable of creating archival oil paintings based on the three color process used in inkjet printing. Now anyone who can use Photoshop can generate oil paintings.
I use multiple strategies to compose my digital pre-paintings. One approach involves creating montage pre-paintings in Photoshop by combining elements taken from public domain paintings by European artists. I have also created true aleatory works by combining 544,000 of my photographs as well as public domain images into film editing software. I programmed the computer to randomly mix these images and selected the most promising outcomes. My current work involves applying Photoshop filters, particularly the neon effect, to montages I create from elements gleaned from public domain art.
This brave new world of machine fine art painting signals a new singularity between photography, digital image manipulation, and painting. Distinctions between these seemingly unique media will collapse I believe. I'm well aware that creating images that challenge the massive commercial enterprise that painting has become is possibly a fool’s errand. There is a charging at windmills aspect to this work, but I believe in the imperative of a more efficient painting methodology based on the new robotics.
William A. Brown
November 17, 2023
Details from Public Domain “Tych” Images 2024
