Alan Rath

 

Alan Rath was among the very first artists to store images using ROM technology rather than videotape; he also has had a growing and long-term interest in robotics and kinetic sculpture. Rath prioritizes the perhaps old-fashioned notion of the artist’s hand—he fabricates almost all his parts himself. He also argues that the content of his work is the form it takes, how he solves design problems in the most elegant way he can. That is, the objects he makes should be understood as a whole, that the images presented are not the sole intended end of his work; rather, in some ways they are the least important part of his practice. He also parodies the utopian claims made for technological innovation and artificial intelligence fantasies while at the same time his kinetic robotic figures demonstrate the enormous potential of digitized machine behavior as sculpture.


BORN
1959 Cincinnati, OH

CURRENT RESIDENCE 
San Francisco, CA

WEBSITE
alanrath.org

EDUCATION
1982 Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA


In The Gallery