The Ohio State University

Mr. and Mrs. Reagh
Plotter Drawings and Sculpture, 1966 - 1970 ➔ Sine Curve Man

Artwork

plotter drawings

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Identifer

C07.13160

Creator

Charles A. Csuri; James Shaffer

Date

1965

Material

Software

Hardware

Algorithms

Measurements

Notes

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Historical Significance

Csuri’s drawing of a bearded man gained acclaim when the artist imaginatively transformed it using the sine curve function, and, in1967, it won the Computers and Automation contest. Unlike Five Faces (1966), which uses instancing and seems to invoke motion as horizontal vibration, Sine Curve Man is a single form, altered to create an oscillating portrait. To obtain this effect, Csuri kept the x value constant and then placed a sine curve function upon the Y value. Given the x and Y coordinates for each point, the figure was plotted by the computer from xï = x Yï + Cx SIN (x) where C is increased for each successive image. Csuri’s abstraction of the face suggests parallels with early Cubist movements and manages, without having the advantage of color, to invoke some of the emotive qualities of Expressionism.

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Rights