Above: Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown computer art 1984
Micro Arts was about programmed and conceptual art, but an artist friend in Paris (where I had lived prior to founding Micro Arts in London) had created a lot of art on the new Paintbox systems. Her story is below.
This early appearance in print of artistic Paintbox imagery is ignored by the various histories of the period, as she was not gallery based at the time, although working with Sonia Sheridan, and not connected to the Quantel mega-system. There is confusion now about what is Paintbox and what is algorythmic, but Paintbox used interface tools to mimic the usual painting process, plus layering and colour control, without having to code anything. This was a major breakthough. (A skeuomorphic interface to a lot of graphics routines.)
We published paintbox images by a Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown, a French artist still working today, in the Micro Arts Group Magazine, 1984. This was prior to David Hockney’s ‘Painting With Light’ BBC series in 1986, and later iPad paint work.
The first Paintbox system was invented by the British company Quantel and had 24 bit color (8 bits per channel plus overlays) and a pressure-sensitive pen for drawing and painting. It could also add and manipulate text. Cheaper alternative systems soon appeared.
Others followed suit with Paint programs using simliar ideas, and Adobe launched Photoshop later in the decade. Much simpler Paint programs were also made for micro computers such as the Commodore Amiga, ZX Spectrum, etc.
Michèle’s work was done on a French Lumina machine (we think, no-one can remember). See below for her story.
For more information on Quantel now, Adrian Wilson is the lead expert, and owns one of the few working models. @quantelpaintbox / visit https://www.instagram.com/quantelpaintbox/
Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown – Personal comment
“For my master courses in Fine Arts, I have worked with Sonia Sheridan and Greg Gundlach, generative systems, Arts and Science. They exhibited their works in Exposition Electra 1983 at the Musée de la Ville de Paris, au Trocadéro, in 1983-84. [see Chirac link below.]
In the eighties, when I started advertising work in Paris, computing was not involved, except for the photo-composition of the text. Then, some guy walked into the Agency with a Paint Box, from Quantel [now thought to be a Lumena system, after Adrian Wilson examined the menus in the images. The term ‘Quantel’ became generic, as the main supplier].
I was the only one who spoke English and wanted to play with it ! Did I play! long hours until late at night, days after days… I burned my eyes on it… Later came Quark Xpress, for the text, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. Brilliant experiences.” Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown, Paris, 2019
See
Sonia Sheridan with Jacques Chirac, Paris, 1983
https://www.fondation-langlois.org/html/e/media.php?NumObjet=65360
See also the People page.
Blog: Adrian Wilson (see Interview)
Above: more ofMichèle Gauthier Carr-Brown’s computer art
Above: Michèle Gauthier Carr-Brown Notebooks
Above: Images in the Micro Arts Magazine 1984.
Sonia Sheridan with Jacques Chirac, Paris, 1983: