Bspline Men

CHARLES CSURI (1922 - 2022)
Bspline Men
signed "Csuri '66'" on the lower left
ink on paper, IMB 7094 and Cal Comp drum plotter, framed
image: 30 7/8 x 57 5/8 inches (78.4 x 146.4 cm)
frame: 38 3/8 x 61 5/8 inches (97.5 x 156.5 cm)
Executed in 1966

The Charles Csuri Estate

Bspline Men is both historic and revolutionary, marking one of Csuri’s earliest experimentations with a mathematical function called a B-spline, where he explores curvature in his drawing of a bearded man. Csuri is regarded as the first artist to break the generative geometric art standard by introducing a figurative image.

Amid early software and hardware limitations, Csuri created human, natural, and organic imagery that defied the sterile environment of the machine. In his iconic Sine Curve Man (1967), Csuri transformed his Bearded Man drawing using a sine wave function. Both works exemplify Csuri’s visionary experimentation with image transformation through computer code.
At that time, without a display device and one computer for the entire university campus, Csuri could only see the artistic, generative output on plotter paper. He recalled a continual element of surprise in collaborating with the computer as a creative partner: “The creative process works when I am able to live in a space of psychological uncertainty.”

Csuri’s philosophy is dramatically evident in Bspline Men (1966), where he stated, “I try to play at the edge of reason and absurdity; it is an invitation to something alive.” In this previously hidden treasure, which was only recently discovered hidden inside another plotter, Csuri delves into the bizarre with mind-bending image distortions, foreshadowing the future of art through technology. Bspline Men (1966) symbolizes Csuri’s passionate belief that transformation is possible through continual change in the human condition.

“Charles Csuri’s concept of art only seemed to resemble the militant ideas of “The Computer as Artist.” Csuri never called into question the authority of the human artist” Foremost in his mind was the relationship between man and machine was always to a certain degree, reciprocal, and that in the process of taming, so to speak, the one who tames is transformed as well”. Margit Rosen.

Csuri, as a generative art pioneer, employed the creative methodology of today's AI artists. Csuri input a set of instructions into the computer like the “push notifications” of AI . Csuri created what he called “smart objects” with varying attributes that visually interacted with one another. He referred to his computer as his “search engine for art” revealing hundreds of his renderings where he would function as an editor. Today, AI can learn the artist's preferences. Csuri however, was interested in artistic accidents caused by randomness, and controlled chaos that resulted in an element of surprise.

The work is unique and archivally mounted and framed using a museum-quality non-glare Optium Acrylic.