Sunday, May 21, 2006

Laurence Gartel: A Digital Art Innovator

A terrific article about this pioneer of digital art.

Laurence Gartel, whose home base is in Boca Raton, Florida, is regarded as the father of the digital art movement. For the past 30 years, his works have been exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art in New York City, the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Joan Whitney Payson Museum in Portland, Maine, the Long Beach Museum of Art in California, the Princeton University Art Museum in New Jersey, and many more, including permanent collections at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of American History. In fact, Gartel’s biography for his pioneering efforts includes being named to various Who’s Who lists.

Born and raised in New York City, Gartel-a self-described “artist from birth"--instructed Andy Warhol how to use the Amiga Computer. Since then, he has rubbed elbows and developed professional associations with many celebrities, including musicians Debbie Harry of Blondie and the late Sid Vicious of the Sex Pistols. More recently, he has created artwork for pop stars Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake.

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Recently, the artist traveled across India with a team of eight people, taking more than 3000 photographs and hours of digital clips-a compilation of art and his interpretations of the country that he is fusing with world music. The multimedia release, titled Gartel: India, will be available this coming January. Meanwhile, Gartel is also hosting his own television show in Miami called Culture Talk, during which he interviews “the movers and shakers” in Florida who contribute their excellence to all things cultural: film, art, music, fashion, and performing arts.

Computer Graphics World (Nov 2005)