Harold Cohen and Aaron – A 40-Year Collaboration (2016)

Harold Cohen was a pioneer in computer art, in algorithmic art, and in generative art; but as he told me one afternoon in 2010, he was first and foremost a painter. He was also an engineer whose work defined the first generation of computer-generated art. His system, AARON, is one of the longest-running, continually maintained AI systems in history. Harold Cohen was an exceptional artist, an impressive engineer, and an important bridge between those two worlds. Graduating from University of London’s Slade School of Fine Art in 1950, he was a member of the generation of British painters that included David Hockney, Bridget Riley, and Richard Smith. By the early 1960s, he had gained fame with several exhibitions across England, and by the mid-’60s, had begun to show his work internationally, with gallery shows in London, New York, and Toronto. His work focused on abstract, biomorphic forms, with a color palette that seemed to come out of the same pool as the Pop Art practitioners insurg ... Read full article.