European Paintings, Cutouts & Robots: An Interview With William Brown
William Brown’s artistic practice pushes the boundaries of what constitutes art and in the process, transforms the way in which his work is created and consumed. Brown started as a photographer in the early 1970s after his graduation in psychology. His work merges elements from mediums as diverse as film, sculpture, painting, and photography.
He is currently working with Art Matr in Red Hook, New York which is the creator of the most advanced robotic painting system to date. Read on to gain insight into his amazing, creative process.
William Brown. Hell.SAH: How would you describe your style?
WB: I'm basically a montage artist whose style is confounded with the technology I'm using to create oil paintings. This way of working started when I was interested in creating true aleatory paintings as described by John Cage and others. I realized I could put photo images in film editing software and randomly merge these by the thousands. I then selected the most interesting. I've built up a large inventory of these that can be painted by the painting robot developed by Art Matr in Red Hook NY. These can be viewed on my website.
After developing a large body of digital aleatory works (2019-2022) I decided to create a series of montage works (2021-2022) based on readily available public domain artwork. I download these images from museum sites and cut out what I call high emotional valence images from European paintings (1500-1900). These cutouts are made into montage works using a range of strategies.
As far as I know, I'm the only person creating these types of public domain works. Several of these works have been converted into paintings using the Art Matr process and are available for immediate delivery. These are among the very first robotically created oil paintings using a three-colour process that can convert photo files into oil paintings.
William Brown. Harrowing of Hell.SAH: Painting robots have been around for some time, how were you introduced to the process?
WB: Most of the early painting robots attempted to emulate human painting practices with robotic arms putting a brush into pre-mixed paint.
I had no interest in this crude and dead-end technology. When I read about the three-colour process (originally developed at MIT) I realized this was the only way to convert digital photo-based files into oil paintings.
SAH: Can robots replace a human's creative spark? What’s your thought?
WB: Well a lot of people are working with AI technology to develop painted images and some of the results are interesting. But I personally believe painting is essentially a human skill just like writing which depends on the creative skills of the writer.
If there is anything robots won't be able to do is write a creative story in the way Shakespeare, Faulkner or Flannery O'Connor can create original stories. The same holds for high-level painting I believe.
SAH: What are you working on at the moment?
WB: I'm in Phase II of my paintings for a robot work which are the collage works from public domain art.
William Brown. Whose Nudes Amuse You.SAH: How do you go about transforming an idea into a physical piece?
WB: I take photoshop files to Art Matr's facility in Red Hook NY and supervise the printing of the oil paintings.
SAH: What kind of impact do you hope that your work has?
WB: Well this technology I believe will radically change the economics of how paintings are sold. Essentially these works can be printed in multiples of any number (and size eventually). The days of the $90,000,000. unique painting by living artists will end though this won't happen overnight.
SAH: What advice would you give somebody who has just started their artistic career?
WB: Well the only way to build a successful commercial career at the highest level is to learn from new idea-oriented teachers at a very early age
and move to New York, London, or LA at a young age and develop a unique consistent style before you are 35. A lot of research supports this advice.I know tons of really good artists who are under the radar because they don't work in one of the art centers.
SAH: Where are your favourite places to view art online?
WB: I know this is insanely old fashioned but I like to see actual works in person at museums so I can get the full high-resolution effect of the
actual finished work. That being said all the major museums have great websites and most let you download the public domain works from their collection.
SAH: Where can we buy your art?
WB: My website has scores of available works that can be purchased as photo prints or oil paintings. My contact info is on the website.
If you see something you like I can get you the work on demand. Prices start at $500 for 32"x16" or 30"x30" for limited edition prints in editions of 50.
Oil Paintings cost $1000 for the same sizes in editions of 10. If you want to own any of these files with total rights for future prints or oil paintings
the price is $10,000.