Roman Verostko - Bio
Presented at: DIGITAL ART: Los Angeles ACM SIGGRAPH x EZTV/CyberSpace Gallery - The SECOND of FOUR [Annual Artshows]
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).
Art works from his monastic period included The "New City Paintings" and "BROTHER", an 8 foot load-bearing wall cast in concrete for the newly constructed St. Vincent Monastery (1967. During this same period he created electronically synchronized audio-visual programs for spiritual retreats.
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 (MCAD). 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).
