Roman Verostko | i |
 
last name: Verostko
first name: Roman
birthday: 1929
birth-place: Western Pennsylvania (USA)
Summary

Roman Verostko maintains an experimental studio in Minneapolis where he has developed his own algorithmic procedures for creating his art. Active as an exhibiting artist since 1963, his earliest use of electronics consisted of synchronized audio-visual programs dating from 1967/68.

A painter in his early life, he also studied as a Benedictine monk. Since the early 1980s, Roman Verostko has been producing works that involve the use of code in its production. Aware of the awesome power of algorithmic procedures, he began experimenting with code and exhibited his first works of coded art in the early 1980’s. In 1987, he modified his software by adding interactive routines to drive paint brushes mounted on a pen plotter’s drawing arm.

To describe this kind of work, he has coined the term ‘algorist’ art, a term obviously referring to ‘algorithm’, meaning a step-by-step procedure for solving a problem or undertaking a task. In computing, the term ‘algorithm’ stands for ‘computable function’, and that is the essential structure underlying a computer program. Algorithms are independent of specific programming languages.

Three texts by Roman Verostko on Algoritmic art:

1: Algorithms and the artist
2: Algorithmic art
3: Epigenetic Art

Biography

1949 Diploma Art Institute of Pittsburgh.
1955 BA, Philosophy St Vincent College, Latrobe, Pa.
1953 – 59 Theology St Vincent Seminary, Latrobe, Pa.
1961 MFA Pratt Institute, Brooklyn.
1961 – 62 Art History NYU and Columbia.
1962 – 63 Printmaking, Hayter’s Atelier 17, Paris.
1968 Faculty, Minneapolis College of Art & Design
1975-78 Academic Dean.
1988-1991 Chairman, Liberal Arts.
1994 Professor Emeritus.
1969 Participant, Ekistics Institute, Athens.
1969 – 1971 Humanities Consultant, The Tetra Corporation, Minneapolis. 
1970 Visiting Scholar as Bush Leadership Fellow, Center For Advanced Visual Studies, M.I.T.
1985 Visiting Professor, Zhejiang Academy of Fine Arts, Hangzhou, PRC (renamed: China Art Academy)
1992 – 93 Program Director, Fourth International Symposium on Electronic Art (FISEA ’93), Minneapolis.
1992 – 96 Board Member, Inter-Society for Electronic Art (ISEA).
1998 International Advisor, Inter-society for Electronic Art.
2005 Advisory Board, International Symmetry Association.
1970 Bush Leadership Fellow.
1971 Outstanding Educators of America.
1974 Outstanding Educators of America.
1993 Prix Ars Electronica, Honorary Mention.
1994 Golden Plotter, First Prize, 1994, Gladbeck, Germany.
1995 ARTEC ’95, Recommendatory Prize.
2006 Nominated for the ddad.velop digital art award.
2009 SIGGRAPH Disitinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement.

1996 – 1997 Mural – Epigenesis: Growth of Form ,  consisting of 11 panels spanning 40 feet for the new Science and Engineering Center, University of St. Thomas, St. Paul. Installed in August, 1997.
/1998/ The Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, 1998. A serial edition of pen plotted works including a binary text illuminated with gold and a family of algorithmically generated forms. Each piece in the edition is one-of-a-kind in the family.  The “text” is a binary version of a Universal Turing Machine. For more on this binary algorithm see the web version presented as a Self Portrait of the machine with which it is viewed.
2000 Two Thousand Scarabs: Marking Two Thousand Years . Each work contains 2,000 algorithmically generated scarab-like forms. Each of the 2000 scarabs is unique without any repetitions. Series under execution: 1999-2000.
2004-2006 Flowers of Learning, Spalding University, Academic Learning Center,Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Permanent installation of seven algorithmic pen & ink drawings presented as a cyberflower garden.
2007-2008 WIM: The upsidedown mural, Eleven 4 ft by 8 ft panels with highly imaginative drawings rise two stories inside the main entrance of the Fred Rogers Center for Early Childhood Media, St. Vincent College, Latrobe, PA., USA.
1986 Magic Hand of Chance. Centennial Version,  Algorithmically generated text and  image sequences displayed on a 25 inch Sony XBR cabled to a PC.  Centennial Exhibition, MCAD Gallery.
1982 – 86 .Magic Hand of Chance  Four algorithmic sequences shown at various non-conventional local venues from 1983-1985. This included a continuous showing in the storefront window of a new computer service and parts store opened in downtown Minneapolis by John Scobee (1983) and various educational events related to emerging technologies. *
1988 Pathways: Robotic Paintings and Drawings. Benedicta Arts Center, College of Saint Benedict, St. Joseph, Minnesota.
1988 – 1990 CRASH, Wright Museum of Art, Beloit.
1989 Pathways: 25 Years From Brush to Plotter. February, Honeywell Corporate Gallery, Minneapolis. Solo.
The Technological Imagination: Machines in the Garden of Art, Intermedia Arts Minnesota and MCAD.
1990 “SIGGRAPH ’90 Art Show”, Dallas. (touring show).
1991 Fourth National Computer Art Invitational, originating at Eastern Washington University, traveling Western States 1991-93.
Art & Algorithm – Mind & Machine, St. Sebastian Press Gallery, Minneapolis.
El Art: International Exhibition of Electronic Art, Retretti Art Center, Finland.
Interface, Art & Computer, Park Avenue Atrium, New York City.
Dada-Data: Developing Medias Since 1970, Maryland Art Place & Fine Arts Gallery (U of M), Baltimore, Maryland.
1992 Imagina: Images Beyond Imagination, Digital Art Gallery, juried, Institut National de L’Audiovisuel, Monte Carlo.
SIGGRAPH ’92 Art Show, Chicago, USA (Juried).
Third International Symposium on Electronic Art, Sydney, Australia,(Juried).
Seoul International Computer Art Festival, Korea, (Invitational).
1993 Electronic Media Show, Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, USA, (Invitational).
TISEA Traveling Show, Museums at Adelaide and Brisbane, Australia.
Computer Art, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, Ky.
Digital Salon des Independents, Cyberspace Gallery & Los Angeles New Art Foundation, West Hollywood.
Recent Epigenetic Works, (Solo) at Richard Halonen Fine Arts, Limited, Minneapolis.
Genetische Kunst – Kunstliches Leben: Genetic Art – Artificial Life, Linz, Austria.
The New York Digital Salon, Art Directors Club, NY.
1994 Computer Art 94, Gladbeck, Karlsruhe, et al., Germany (traveling 1994-1995)
ISEA ’94, Fifth International Symposium on Electronic Art, Helsinki, Finland.
International Exhibition of Digital Art, Academy of Fine Arts & Design, Bratislava, Slovakia.
Computer Art: Visual Adventures Beyond the Edge, Evansville Museum of Arts & Science, Indiana.
Digital Visions, Williams Gallery, Princeton, New Jersey.
Elastic Visions, Zoller Gallery, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, (Traveling 1994-1995).
1995 FAX: INDIVIDUAL BODY – INFECTED BODIES : SOCIAL BODY – CONTAMINATED BODIES, BilboGraph’95, Bilboa Spain.
“Computer Generated Art” (Solo), University of St. Thomas, St. Paul Minnesota.
ARTEC ’95, International Biennial, Nagoya City Science Museum.
The New York Digital Salon, New York City.
SIGGRAPH ’95 Art Show, August, Los Angeles, USA.
University of Vermont, Francis Colburn Gallery.
1996 The New York Digital Salon, New York City.
Creativity & Cognition, LUTCHI, Loughborough, UK.
1997 A Bunch of Digital Art, The College of New Jersey, Trenton, NJ.
Digital perspectives, Ukranian Institute of Modern Art, Chicago.
SIGGRAPH ’97 Art Show, August, Los Angeles, USA (traveling 1997 – 2000).
1998 Fifth Annual New York Digital Salon, Visual Arts Museum, NY, 1997; Bandaluz, Madrid.
Gallery of the Future, Under Construction, Loughborough, UK.
The Digital Artist : Art, Abstraction and Algorithms, The Williams Gallery, Princeton, NJ.
Computerkunst’98, Gladbeck Germany,(traveling).
Aesthetics + Artificial Life, Center for Digital Arts, University of California.
1999 Southern Graphics Council Media Exhibition, Arizona State University Computing Commons Gallery.
Ars (Dis)Symmetyrica ’99, Ernst Museum, 8 Nagymezo St., Budapest, HUNGARY.
2000 Digitally Propelled Ideas.  W. Keith and Janet Kellogg Art Gallery. California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.
Through the Looking Glass, Beachwood Center,  Beachwood, Ohio.
Computerkunst/Computer Art 2000 at Innovationszentrum Wiesenbusch, Gladbeck (Germany).
2001 Algorithmic Fine Art. Computing Commons Gallery, Arizona State University, Tempe, Arizona.
The New York Digital Salon, Selected Works, The Corning Gallery at Steuben, New York City.
The Art Institute of Pittsburgh, Alumni Show, Art Institute Gallery.
Retrospective of Digital Art,  London Guildhall University, London,
2002 Math and Art, Selby Gallery, Ringling School of Art and Design, 2700 N. Tamiami Trail, Sarasota, Florida, USA.
Computerkunst/Computer Art 2002 (9th International) at the Gladbeck Innovationszentrum Wiesenbusch, at Wiesenbusch (Germany)
2003 ARTWARE2, digital art exhibition curated by Umberto Roncori. PUCP Cultural Center, S. Isidro, El Ojo Ajeno Galería,  Lima, Perú.
SIGGRAPH 2003, Art Show, San Diego, CA..USA. Also the SIGGRAPH ’03 International Traveling Show.
CODE: THE LANGUAGE OF OUR TIME,  Ars Electronica, the Brucknerhaus, Linz, Austria.
STATE OF THE ART: Maps, Stories, Games and Algorithms from Minnesota. Carlton Art Gallery, Carlton College,  Northfield Minnesota.
Contemporary Art & the Mathematica Instinct, Tweed Museum of Art, University of Minnesota, Duluth Campus.
2004 August 9-12, SIGGRAPH 2004 Art Show, Los Angeles, CA
Contemporary Art & the Mathematica Instinct, University Art Museums, Marsh Art Gallery, University of Richmond, Virginia.
Computerkunst / Computer Art 2004 (10th International) at the Museum der Stadt Gladbeck.
2004 – 2005 Algorithmic Revolution: The history of interactive art.  ZKM:Medienmuseum at the Zentrum für Kunst und Medientechnologie.
2005 May 27 – July 13. Roman Verostko: Pearl Park Scriptures, [DAM] Berlin, Tucholskystrasse 37, The Digital Art Museum.
SIGGRAPH 2005, Art Show, Los Angeles, CA.
SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, Los Angeles Convention Center.
2006 Form und Raum, Computerkunst Actuel, Museen der Stadt Lüdenscheid Städtische Galerie,  Lüdenscheid, Germany.
THE ALGORISTS: Four Visual Artists in the Land of Newton.  Verostko, Horwitz, Hébert, Dehlinger. ART, IMAGE AND SCIENCE: An initiative at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical
Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara.
MCAD Faculty at the Minnetonka Center for the Arts. Minnetonka Center for the Arts, MN.
SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts. Roman exhibited “Black Elk Speaks”.
Computerkunst / Computer Art 2006 (11th International) at the Innovationszentrum Wiesenbusch, Gladbeck (IWG).
20th Century Computer Art: Beginnings & Developments, The work and thought of pioneers and contemporary practitioners of algorithmic art. Tama Art University Museum, Tokyo, Japan.
2007  Digital Art Museum, Tucholskystr. 37,  Berlin, Germany. The Algorists: Jean-Pierre Hébert (France), Roman Verostko (USA), Mark Wilson (USA), Manfred Mohr (GER-USA), Hans Dehlinger (GER).
Feedback, Laboral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial.
Roman Verostko’s Algorithmic Drawings. Nina Bliese Gallery, 225 South Sixth Street, Minneapolis, MN, USA.
SIGGRAPH Art Gallery, San Diego Convention Center.
2008 Imaging by Numbers: A Historical View of the Computer Print, The Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University.
Concourse Gallery, Minneapolis College of Art & Design, Evolutions.
2009 – 2010 Victoria & Albert Museum, Digital Pioneers. London.
Artist Groups
The Algorists
Works
Roman Verostko
Canticle to the Sun
1996
Roman Verostko
Cyber Boccioni
2000
Roman Verostko
Cyber Flowers
2000 - 2003
Roman Verostko
Cyber Venus
2002
Roman Verostko
Finlandia
1991
[all 22 entries]
Exhibitions
Drawing with Code: Works from the Anne and Michael Spalter Collection / Think Line. Concept, Computer, Drawing
References
Illustrations
portrait2 / rv_plotting / studio / verostko_20thcentury_buch
Awards
Goldener Plotter der Stadt Gladbeck / The Gladbeck Golden Plotter Award / SIGGRAPH award
Comments
anonymous
posted almost 6 years ago
2009 Awards: SIGGRAPH Distinguished artist lifetime achievement Award 2018 SIGGRAPH Academy
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