"Computer graphics," says Linda Lauro-Lazin, "Is allowing artists and scientists to
come together in a way that hasn't been the same since the Renaissance."

	Lauro-Lazin is one example of such a melding of science and art. A teacher in the
Computer Graphics Department at Pratt, she is both artist and computer scientist.
And this month she's also a guest curator at Ulster County Community Collegeís
Muroff Kotler Gallery, organizing a national show of digital art by fourteen heavy
hitters of computer graphics. The exhibit, which opens March 15, will include
digital monotypes by Lynn Pocock, a professor at the New York Institute of
Technology; images of immigration by Barbara Nessim, chair of the Computer
Graphics Department at Parsons; and works exploring Mexican mythology by Isaac
Kerlow, vice president of interactive media at Disney and one of the founders of the
Computer Graphics Department at Pratt.

	Lauro-Lazin notes that when computer graphics first came to public attention in the
early ë80s, it tended to produce science-fiction-like images possessing a hyper-real
sheen. A lot of the early work in the field was done by physicists, she says, who
were concerned with eliminating pixel visibility; the result is that we now have
super-realistic computer-generated images in print and film. But similarly to
photography, painting, and other representative arts, computer imaging has grown
beyond slavish reproduction to become a tool of expression. It was a liberating
moment, Lauro-Lazin recalls, "when I realized I could allow pixels to be seen in my
own work." These days, one of the challenges faced by artists who work with
computers is how to get rid of the too-perfect planes and surfaces that are the mark
of the digital.

	Typically, the general public is far behind the latest developments in the art world,
with the result that many people have never seen an exhibit of computer-generated
art. This, Lauro-Lazin says, is one reason for the UCCC exhibit.

	As other media have done before, computer-generated art is exploring its bounds
and proving itself legitimate. Photography has long been accepted as an art form,
but in an era when computers and programs like Photoshop® are accessible to many
people, there may be a certain demystification of computer graphics that makes
people more likely to question the "art" tag applied to images coming out of a
printer than those created in the rarefied air of a darkroom. Contributing to this,
Lauro-Lazin says, is the rapid drop in cost associated with increased computing
power. "When I first started in computer graphics I worked for companies just so I
could get my hands on the equipment," she says. In those days, a computer
sophisticated enough to generate decent graphic images was room-sized, and well
out of the price range of most artists. Now, you can get much more computing
power in laptop for under $2,000. What people don't take into consideration, she
says, is that art requires not only form, but content; the program just gives the artist
another tool to work with. Many of the artists represented in the UCCC show hold
degrees in both science and art, and many program their own computers to get the
effects they want. On the other hand, says Lauro-Lazin, "Just because Photoshop®
is easy to get to doesn't mean people arenít doing good work with it."

	The reproducibility of computer images influences the marketability of
computer-generated art. But in fact, Lauro-Lazin notes, the speed of development in
computer science means that far from being infinitely reproducible, many encoded
works of art are no longer reproducible at all, because the medium they were
created on is obsolete. "I have digital work that I cannot reproduce," she explains,
"because the media doesn't exist anymore." Ever heard of a Winchester disk? If you
had a machine that could read it, you might be able to reproduce one of
Lauro-Lazin's early works. That's why she warns her students not to get too
attached to particular hardware or software.

Digital Visions will open with a reception Sunday, March 15, from 2 to 4 p.m., and
remain on view through April 9. The Muroff Kotler Gallery is in UCCC's
Vanderlyn Hall, Room 265. For more information, call 687-5113. 

--Todd Paul