Monday, October 27, 1997
VISUALIZATION: Stowe Keller says he doesn't have the hand of an artist, but is able to exploit an artistic eye with the aid of a computer. Photo by Carlos Santos The mind's eye finds a tool
Artist uses computer to create landscapes of another worldBY CARLOS SANTOS
Richmond Times-Dispatch Staff WriterVIRGINIA VIGNETTE
CHARLOTTESVILLE -- Stowe Keller is a self-taught computer wiz with a mathematical mind and an artistic bent.He has combined those attributes to produce unique, surreal and sometimes startling works of art via computer and photography.
''I never was a good at traditional painting,'' said Keller, 34. ''The computer provides me with a way to get an image in my mind's eye out. I'm not obstructed by eye-to-hand coordination.''
Keller's mind's eye sees a different world than most. The finished photographs are often of three-dimensional landscapes crafted from repeating lines and curves swathed in color. The photographs have an other-world quality.
Keller produces his art with mathematical formulas, manipulating sines and cosines to create his landscapes of lines. The computer image is then transferred from the computer to photographs by a specialized camera.
''I'm someone who can find beauty in geometry, in math,'' he said. ''In a lot of my images you could follow the math out to infinity. Some of the images stay interesting to infinity.''
But is it art?
Keller said people have denigrated the result, claiming a ''machine did it. Well, it's doing part of it, just like a paintbrush does part of it . . . A saxophone doesn't play itself.''
Artist Peter Max, known for his psychedelic paintings of the 1960s, was an inspiration, he said.
Keller was born in New York's borough of Manhattan where his parents ran a photography studio. He moved to Charlottesville when he was 9. ''I've picked up some drawl,'' he said.
He graduated from St. Anne's-Belfield High School, where he was a National Merit Scholarship finalist, but he decided not to go to college.
''I like to learn. But I didn't want to learn on somebody's else's schedule,'' he said.
Keller was an early user of personal computers, teaching himself enough to become a software and computer expert, though his lack of a degree ''meant I had to work hard to prove myself.''
His resume lists a series of jobs ranging from computer troubleshooter to computer tutor and video game creator. His most recent job was as a consultant and tester of software for a Richmond company.
But on the side, since about 1990, he's been working as a computer artist, producing hundreds of computer-generated slides and prints for his portfolio.
He's showed his work commercially and has displays in Charlottesville at the downtown library, at Spectrum Computer and at Rococo's Restaurant.
Keller creates small prints as well as larger pieces that sell for several hundred dollars each.
''I try to make something interesting, something entertaining . . . and fun to look at,'' he said.
Keller is also struggling to keep up with computer advances, which now allow more traditional yet still ethereal images to be developed.
''I'm trying new stuff,'' he said. ''The computer is getting more versatile. The software is getting better.
''But it's all still a question of visualization.''
