Roman Verostko

Basic Info

Name: Roman Verostko
Date of Birth: September 12, 1929
Date of Death: June 1, 2024
Country of Origin: US
Website: http://www.verostko.com/
Gallery Representation: Digital Art Museum Gallery - Wolf Leiser - Europe (Berlin)

Description

Roman Verostko, born 1929, was a leading pioneer in the computer art scene, and developed his own original algorithmic procedures for creating his art at his experimental studio in Minneapolis, MN. A year after graduating from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1949, he entered monastic life at St. Vincent Archabbey where he studied philosophy & theology, was ordained a priest, and pursued post-graduate studies in New York & Paris.  He taught at St. Vincent College and served as Staff Editor for Art & Architecture for the first edition of the New Catholic Encyclopedia (McGraw Hill, 1967).

Roman Verostko was a member of the now internationally recognized Algorists movement, along with other artists such as Jean-Pierre Hebert, Manfred Mohr, Vera Molnar, and Mark Wilson. Like many of the early artists in the field, he had had extensive traditional art training. Building on his experience with oils, Verostko began exploiting the computer’s ability rapidly to create formal variations, a process he called epigenetic, indicating a process building on random variables, similar to biological development of simple or unorganized forms into larger, complex entities–for example, a plant growing from a seed. He also made his own inks and replaced plotter pens with Chinese brushes.

Like Desmond Paul Henry, Roman Verostko applied layers by hand after the computer plotting process was finished. Areas of gold leaf, referring back to Verostko’s days as a Benedictine monk, create the feeling of a precious object. In his art and that of Jean-Pierre Hebert, there is an unmistakable spiritual element. Both have used the computer to create deeply moving, Zen-like compositions.

Roman Verostko’s works plays the grid and circle / curves against each other, grouping his colored brush-like line shapes along grid axes and using vertical or horizontal symmetries to create compositional structures.

Art works from his monastic period included the “New City Paintings”  and  “BROTHER” (1967), an 8-foot load-bearing wall cast in concrete for the newly constructed St. Vincent Monastery. During this same period, he created electronically synchronized audio-visual programs for spiritual retreats.

He departed from his monastic life in 1968, married Alice Wagstaff, and joined the humanities faculty at the Minneapolis School of Art, now known as MCAD. Aware of the awesome power of algorithmic procedure, he began experimenting with code, and exhibited his first coded art program, the “Magic Hand of Chance” in 1982.  In 1987, he modified his software with interactive routines to drive paint brushes mounted on a pen plotter drawing arm.

He was the recipient of the SIGGRAPH‘s “Distinguished Artist Award for Lifetime Achievement” (2009) and has had work included in: “Digital Pioneers”, V&A, London, 2009; “The Algorithmic Revolution” (ZKM, Karlsruhe, 2005); “Code: the language of our time” (2003, Linz, Austria); Artec (1995, Nagoya, Japan) and “Genetic Art- Artificial Life” (1993, Linz, Austria).

Explore Artworks By Roman Verostko

Canticle 1

Created in 1995 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite signed, titled, and dated lower right corner on the reverse in graphite “used for a FAX show @ Bilboa First of the Sun Canticles with gold leaf” inscribed lower left corner on the reverse in graphite


Diamond Lake Apocalypse

Created in 1993 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower left in graphite artist’s seal printed in red ink lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “The Diamond Lake Apocalypse series were formatted somewhat like medieval manuscript illuminations. In the late 1980’s I came to view my studio as a 20th Century electronic scriptorium illuminating the codes of our […]


Nested Swallows Version I

Created in 1995 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite artist’s seal printed in red ink middle right margin description from direct communication with the artist: “Shown at SIGGRAPH in 1997 this work was part of my “Struggle” series that was first shown at Artec’95 in Nagoya Japan. The characters are non-rational strokes generated with coordinates that control […]


Nested Swallow Version II

Created in 2002 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite artist’s seal printed in red ink lower left description from direct communication with the artist: “The original version was water damaged while in transit. Insurance value could not replace the original so I made this version as a replacement. In this version the key brush stroke was made […]


Black Elk, Rocktown Scrolls

Created in 2006 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite description from direct communication with the artist: “Text quoted from Black Elk Speaks, Chapter III: The Great Vision – Then I was standing on the highest mountain of them all and round that made one circle, wide as daylight and as starlight, and in the center grew one […]


The Manchester Illuminated Universal Turing Machine, Version 18

Created in 1998 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower middle titled lower left description from direct communication with the artist: “The text is a Universal Turing Machine in expanded binary. See documentation at: http://www.verostko.com/manchester/manchester.html See also a UTM as a Self Portrait: http://www.verostko.com/u.html Roman’s homage to Alan Turing is the 3rd in a series of works that pay homage to […]


2000 Improvisations Celebrating 2000 years

Created in 1999 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite titled lower left in graphite description from direct communication with the artist: “Each version in this series consists of 2000 original variations without repeats. Some of the series anticipating Y2K date from 1999 while others were completed in the year 2000. Versions exist in several varied dark toned […]


Untitled (from the Gaia Series)

Created in 1990 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite artist’s seal stamped in red ink lower left description from direct communication with the artist: “A series of Gaia works were created for El Art: International Exhibition of Electronic Art, Retretti Art Center, Finland (May-September, 1991). This work was one of several created in 1990 that were part […]


Psyche (from the Gaia Series)

Created in 1991 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right artist’s and artist’s wife seals stamped in red ink lower left and upper right description from direct communication with the artist: “The Gaia images are named after “Mother Earth”. Alice gave specific titles to the ones shown in Finland and this one was “Psyche”. See my page on “Seals” for […]


Pathway Series 22, NY 24

Created in 1987 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “This is one of Roman’s treasured Pathway Series that have painterly qualities with “all-over” distributions of pen strokes. These works relate to Roman’s early interest in creating a form of computer automatism. However he never followed “automatism” to its logical conclusion. These works […]


Sketch

Created in 1987 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right below the image “plotter sketch deomnostrating setup routines, Houston Instruments DMP52, 14pen multiple pen, IBMPC, DOS, windowing and pathway drawing routine, early 1987, Minneapolis, For Anne & Michael Spalter” written by the artist along the bottom edge of the paper. hardware: IBM PC software: Disk Operating System plotter: Houston Instruments […]


Cyberflower, Version 7, Number 7

Created in 2002 by Roman Verostko

signed, titled, and dated lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “The black text-like glyphs in this work are non-rational forms. The algorithm driving this series generates its curvilinear procedures from a single set of coordinates. Algorithmic improvisations based on a single set of coordinates introduce a self similarity that permeates the form […]


Pearl Park Scriptures, Galileo

Created in 2004 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right Verostko developed his own software to create this work. The glyphs on the right of this image were created using a computer code that attributed a glyph, or written symbol, to each letter of the alphabet. description from direct communication with the artist: “Text quoted from Galileo Galilei, Il Saggiatore […]


Untitled (Elle Passe (She Passes)

Created in 1963 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “This must have been made shortly after I returned from Paris in 1963. My father’s death brought me home for the family funeral and I believe the Archabbot officiated and I would have been the Deacon. This was a very difficult time as […]


Untitled (Cave Drawing)

Created in 1962 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “This would be one of my cave series that may have been shown in my 1963 exhibition at the Belgium Center, Cite Universitaire, Paris. See notes on Paris drawings and the exhibition announcement at: http://www.verostko.com/history/sv/paris.html http://www.verostko.com/archive/statements/paris- 1963.html“


Poster for Art & Algorithm * Mind & Science 1991 Exhibition

Created in 1990 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right description from direct communication with the artist: “Each poster was plotted as an original “one-of-a-kind” in a family of forms. The text is also drawn with pen & ink. My code includes spacing, sizing, and some special graphic features for drawing the letters into my work. I have yet to […]


Hildegarde Visions, 2

Created in 2000 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite titled lower left in graphite description from direct communication with the artist: “The coded procedures for these improvisations dates from about 1990. Notes on arrays of form: The pen plotted “Visions of Hildegarde” invite meditation through arrays of improvisation. Each vision, one more improvisation in the seemingly countless […]


Hildegarde Visions, P

Created in 2000 by Roman Verostko

signed, titled, and dated in graphite dedicated “For Anne with best wishes, Roman” in graphite along the bottom edge of the paper Strathmore Bristol 500 paper embossment upper right corner


West – East II

Created in 2000 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right titled lower left description from direct communication with the artist: “Linear fields address the attraction and repulsion of opposites – their similarity and their difference are presented simultaneously as “West-East” or “Heaven and Earth”. The form fields simultaneously join and separate. creating a formal dynamic tension The algorithms for this […]


Diamond Lake Apocalypse

Created in 1994 by Roman Verostko

signed and dated lower right in graphite artist’s label adhered to the back of the frame description from direct communication with the artist: “The Diamond Lake Apocalypse series were formatted somewhat like medieval manuscript illuminations. In the late 1980’s I came to view my studio as a 20th Century electronic scriptorium illuminating the codes of […]