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WHAT’S THIS IMAGE TO SEW? The computer graphics Drivers’ Greeting is one of the earliest artworks created on a PC in Hungary. Its maker, the young János Sugár prepared the drawing in a PCPaint program in the Institution for Computer Science and Control (SZTAKI) in Budapest in the mid 198O’s. The artist’s invitation to the research institute might have been part of the official effort of the late Kádár era to popularize computers among the wider public. The artwork along with other pieces of the same series was on view in the very first exhibition of digital art in Hungary hosted by the Museum of Fine Arts. During the both political and economic thaw of the late ‘8Os, personal computers started to enter the country. The trade ban on high tech appliances within the Eastern block imposed by the COCOM list was gradually lifted, thus making Commodore 64 appear in 1985. János Sugár as a disciple of Miklós Erdély was both a member of the INDIGO (INterDIsciplinary Thinking) Group and partake at the two creativity enhancing courses also lead by Erdély. On their worshops, they regularly engaged in exploring the specificities of a given medium, such as drawing. They’ve worked along the following framings „beautiful, but bad drawing”, „ugly drawing”, „good topic badly presented”, „dazzle”, „embarrassing technics” and „overdone drawing”. The activity helped to retroengineer the path of thinking through looking at the final product and cross-examine how they’ve got there.
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (car)
Color scheme:
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (left index)
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (right index)
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (light beam)
Color scheme:
Color scheme:
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (light beam)
János Sugár: Drivers’ Greeting (fonts)
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