"Crash" is an acronym for - ‘ComputeR-AssiSted Hardcopy’. The original show was presented in 1988 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The intent of this first exhibit was to show how the computer was being used by artists to produce prints, drawings and paintings –then a relatively new art form.. Today, some 15 years later – many of the same artists have reached high levels of achievement and recognition in the ‘Computer Art’ genre. George Cramer, Manfred Mohr, Barbara Nessim, Lillian Schwartz, Joan Truckenbrod and Roman Verotsko are among those artists whose recent work is on view at The Williams Gallery.

For each of these artists the digital medium is an essential part of the inspiration for their art, integral to the development of idea, imagery, and composition. Each use the computer as one of their creative tools; however, each has invented distinctively personal approaches to the digital process and the printing approach. Photography, lithography, inkjet paintings, and plotter drawings are among the techniques employed. The visual impact of these aesthetically and intellectually stimulating works demonstrates how powerful the digital medium can be in the true artist's hands.

George Cramer uses the electronic art medium like other artists use a palette and brush. A nationally known artist and sculptor from Madison, Wisconsin, he has chosen to work with processes and images which allow him to include many historical, tribal and universal concepts in his work. He creates works reminiscent of futuristic landscapes, using forms and colors to establish distances. His goal is to unite dreams with realities and present them as symbolic representations. Pixeled gradations of color embellish his vibrant landscapes, as seen in "Interiors". These pixeled textures, fascinating in their other-worldliness, can only be born from a computer - yet they flavor his compositions with a barrage of variations and nuances one might not believe possible in this medium. Cramer has broken through the stereotype and has invented ways to achieve his own brand of expression. He says: "Underneath it all, I am making Art because I have to. I have seen too much now to not care when beauty and kindness are left behind by our developing technically oriented culture."

Roman Verostko, Professor Emeritus of Minneapolis College of Art and Design, has pioneered the development and creative use of an artist's personal expert system: "epigenetic" art - the use of computer software designed to express his personal artistic preferences and to generate totally original works of art. His approach to art holds a reverence for the materials of earth and a sense of wonder about many things including circuit boards and computer language. His software is an extension of his visual ideas, by which he creates works glowing with mystery and iconic qualities reminiscent of medieval manuscripts. The prints, each unique, are plotted on rag paper, and often enhanced with a touch of gold or silver leaf applied by hand. The pen lines and brush strokes, while executed by machine, exhibit the expressive qualities of the artist's hand. Verostko's vision and procedure explore new realms of expression, unattainable through conventional means.

A range of work spanning several years will be on exhibit.

Manfred Mohr has been described as a "Cubist in the Computer Age". Born in Pforzheim, Germany in 1938, he has gained world wide recognition for his art and in March of last year was featured in a one person exhibition at the Albers Museum in Germany. Mohr began his work in abstract expressionism, which he has since developed into algorithmic art. Since 1973 he has been concentrating on fracturing the symmetry of the cube, thereby generating new shapes. He explains that the computer becomes a physical and intellectual extension of himself in the process of creating his paintings. He writes algorithms (rules that calculate and then generate the work) using the computer and plotter as aids to his production of art. Paintings on canvas, wall sculpture, and serigraphs of Mohr’s works will be on display, which, in each case, illustrate the graphic linearity of his black and white compositions . Their beauty and motion, both sensed and visible, are evocative of his experience as a jazz musician and, earlier in his career, as an action painter. Mohr points out "My art is not a mathematical art, but an expression of my artistic experience."

The three silkscreens ‘P411a, P411b and P411c’ on exhibit are all based on the 4-D hypercube. The four-dimensional rotation of a hyper-cube becomes an additional element in generating signs and shapes. A four-dimensional hyper-cube can also be seen as a structural relationship of eight interconnected cubes. In this particular work, each of these eight cubes are looked at through a square window (the 0,0,0 rotation of each cube). Four of the cubes are represented by their frontal view (black) and four by their back (grey). This partitioning of black or gray is a combinatorial element in the algorithm of this work.

Barbara Nessim of New York City is an internationally known artist and educator whose works have been collected and/or exhibited at the Smithsonian, the MOMA of Sweden, The Dusseldorf Kunst Museum, the Louvre, Time and Newsweek magazines and in many private collections. She holds the Chair of the Illustration Department at Parsons School of Design in New York. Her works are primarily figures directly drawn on the computer but often hand colored in watercolor or acrylics. While her works represent familiar objects and humanistic figures, they convey considerations of human endeavor, social and interpersonal issues, and accomplishment. Her recent Flag Series includes "In Red Woods, Coffee Break, Call Waiting, Tic Tac Toe". People and how they interact are major themes in these Ink-Jet Prints. Her metaphorical style is known for its unique coloration and its direct approach. Her many accomplishments have made her one of the most sought after artists, speakers and educators in the nation. Both watercolors & digital works are display.

Lillian Schwartz is a pioneer in the use of the computer in the arts. She uses the computer to create works of art in graphics, film/video and special effects, and in art analysis. Her work is in major art collections around the world, including the Museum of Modern Art, the Whitney Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Georges Pompidou Center, and the Grand Palais in Paris. She has received many awards including an Emmy, Emmy Nominations, and an Academy Award. A Fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences, Schwartz wrote with Laurens R. Schwartz "The Computer Artist's Handbook" (W.W. Norton 1992). For many years she has been consulting with major corporations involved with computers and technology. Quote from Arno Penzias (Vice President and Chief Scientist, Lucent Technologies, Bell Labs) "What we know as computer art began in December 1968, when Lillian Schwartz grasped a light pen and began to draw." Images on display are through the courtesy of The Williams Collecton.

Joan Truckenbrod is a faculty member of the Art Institute of Chicago, who has exhibited throughout the United States and in Germany, Switzerland and France. She uses the computer to synthesize images which address the behavioral roles defined for/by women. "I sketch out figures and weave them together with old family photographs and outlined images from fashion magazines, catalogues and newspapers to illustrate that media figures have a subliminal effect in forming attitudes and behavior in men and women". Her striking use of color and manipulated imagery combine to produce powerful and stimulating works. A selection from her earlier works will be available.