Roman Verostko and the Cloud of Unknowing
This retrospective exhibition includes over seventy original works by Verostko, encompassing his pre-algorist work, algorithmic pen and brush plotter drawings, early screen/video pieces, electronic machines, mural projects, artist books, and newer editioned prints. One of the artist’s pen plotters will be featured, as will selections from his archives of detailed notes, equations, and codes. Rather than a strict chronological retrospective, the exhibition is organized around major themes that appear throughout Verostko’s work, such as his search for pure form, his interest in logic, his merging of eastern and western aesthetics and philosophy, and his understanding of his home “Pathway Studio" as a modern day electronic scriptorium.
Model of Epigenesis: the Growth of Form, a permanent installation, 40 feet in length located at the University of St. Thomas, Frei Science and Engineering Center, Owens Hall, St Paul, MN. Pen, brush & ink, 11 units 3 by 6 ft each with stained white oak panels, 1997.
About the artist
Roman Verostko, born 1929, maintains an experimental studio in Minneapolis where he has developed original algorithmic procedures for creating his art. A year after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh (1949) he entered monastic life at St Vincent Archabbey where he studied philosophy & theology, was ordained a priest, and followed post graduate studies in New York &
Paris. He taught at St. Vincent College and served as Staff Editor for Art & Architecture for the first edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia (McGraw Hill, 1967).
He departed from monastic life in 1968, married Alice Wagstaff, and joined the humanities faculty at the Minneapolis School of Art now known as the Minneapolis College of Art & Design. Aware of the awesome power of algorithmic procedure he began experimenting with code and exhibited his first coded art program, the Magic Hand of Chance in 1982. In 1987 he modified his software with interactive routines to drive paint brushes mounted on a pen plotter drawing arm.
Notable Items: SIGGRAPH ACADEMY (Aug, 2018); "Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement (SIGGRAPH, 2009), Golden Plotter Award, 1994 (Germany). Invitationals: "Digital Pioneers", V&A, London, 2009; "The Algorithmic Revolution" (ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2005), “Code: the language of our time” (2003, Linz, Austria), Artec 1995, Nagoya, Japan) and "Genetic Art-Artificial Life" (1993, Linz, Austria).
Roman Verostko and the Cloud of Unknowing
A Retrospective Exhibition
January 22, 2019 - February 24, 2019
Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD)
Minneapolis, MN
Framing Specifications
Verostko, Algorithmic Poetry: Green Cloud, 2011, algorithmic pen and ink plotter drawing, 23 x 27 in.
Profile: 101
Type: Standard Gallery Frame
Wood & Finish: maple frames with pickled white finish
Purchasing Option: joined wood frame
Custom Wood Spacer: 1/2" wood frame spacer
Custom Wood Strainer: 3/4" wood frame strainer