prosthetic knowledge

Zdeněk Sýkora 

Pioneering Czech artist who was the first artist in his country to utilize a computer (in 1966) in his works, and are reminiscent of Generative Art created in the last decade or so.

According to Monoskop:

… He is considered the first Czechoslovak artist to use computer. Born 1920 in Louny … 1940 the first painting attempts. 1959 sees the Ermitage collection of Matisse which influences him deeply. 1960 geometric paintings. 1961-1962 hard-edge painting. 1962-1963 the first structures. 1963 joins Křižovatka art group. In 1964 in collaboration with the mathematician Jaroslav Blažek he starts to create the visual computer-aided structures. 1967-1969 architectural works. 1972-1973 the last structural works, begins to develop randomly generated computer-aided line paintings.

When you examine the works on his site, you see an interesting range of styles as described above. He started off painting in Modernist styles, put was not afraid to experiment with new approaches (yet still produced other works in a painterly aesthetic). A description about the artist’s work around the 1960’s from his official site:

Zdeněk Sýkora´s works have arrived at generalization of natural forms up to an abstract image. From the early 1960s he paints compositions based on the relationships of basic geometric shapes; these shapes then became the basis of the elements that he started to organize into a grid. This process was the result of his efforts for the objectification and reduction of means of expression. This is the way how the first of the group of Structures was created in 1963 – The Grey Structure. To organize geometric elements in his structures, he uses a combinatorial principle and incorporates the computer to his work in 1964 (in cooperation with the mathematician Jaroslav Blažek); thus he joined the world pioneers of this method. He also projects his structures onto 3D objects.

He died last year, aged 91 - Here is an obituary from The Guardian

Recommended for anyone interested in art in any style from the last century, you can visit the artist’s official site here.