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Furnas and several artists are using digital printing robots
that use techniques in paintings that were previously impossible
or too labor intensive. The machines are guided by inputs from
artists and optical sensors to paint in fine detail in lines
thinner than a human eyelash.
"I literally think of that robot as a friend," Furnas said in an
interview. "More than a pet, less than an art assistant -
somewhere in there."
He has used a robot called "sozo," which means imagination in
Japanese, for tasks such as painting thousands of hairs on a
bison in one of his artworks.
It leaves marks on a canvas according to his instructions that
he communicates through an optical tracking system attached to a
paintbrush-like rod.
It records a painter's movements, allowing artists to edit
brushstrokes before putting an image on a canvas. Those digital
images can be combined with brushwork from an artist to bring
new dimensions to a painting.
Sozo was created by technology startup Artmatr, whose CEO Ben
Tritt is a painter. He sees the company as an open-source
community that will help artists merge digital technology with
traditional painting methods.
Besides Sozo, Artmatr also has a variety of machines that use
ink jet heads found in printers.
"It lowers the risk threshold for individual mark making,"
Furnas said.
(Jon Herskovitz)
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