Sherban Epuré
Sherban Epuré (also Serban Epuré, 1940, Bucharest - 2018, New York) was a Romanian artist.
Sherban Epuré trained in electronics, then went on to become a professional artist and painter in the 1960s. In 1967, he began working on projects combining art and science in Romania.
He exhibited cybernetically based / digital work at the 7th and 8th Youth Biennial of Paris in 1971 and 1973, the 25th Edinburgh Festival,1971, the 9th Sigma Festival in Bordeaux, France, 1973, the Fine Art Competition, Ciprus, (Award), 1973, and at The New Gallery in Bucharest, Romania, 1974.
In 1973, at the Sigma 9 Contact II in Bordeaux France, his work was presented alongside some of the most influential artists and animators in computer art, such as Georges Charbonnier, Abraham Moles, Herbert Franke, Herve Huitric, Peter Kreiss, Kenneth Knowlton, Vera Molnar, Manfred Mohr, and Georg Nees.
In an article for Leonardo magazine published in 2006, Epuré described his experience as an artist struggling to survive in Romania during the 1970s, and the decision to emigrate. He moved to the United States in 1980 and subsequently participated in the New York Digital Salon, SIGGRAPH and many other digital art shows. He lived and worked in New York until his death.
Epuré put cybernetics, as a creative engine, at the core of his art and by the end of 1967, Epuré's art developed in two main strands, which he called S-Bands and Meta-Phorms. The S-Band (or Sherban's Band) may be seen as an interactive machine able to reconfigures twelve visual variables, three of geometry and eight of color; the background is the last of these. The scope of the band is not to imitate nature, as origami does, but to produce non-subjective, enjoyable art forms. The Meta-Phorm (derived from Meta+Metaphor+Form) is intended to be the the visual appearance/materialisation of an abstract creative proposition by introducing geometrical forms into a game relationship.
He began using an Apple Macintosh in 1985, but was well aware of the limitations of the technology available at that time.
From 1980 his work has been exhibited in many venues. His works are in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, (The Patric Prince Collection of digital art.); Museum of Modern Art, MOMA, New York; the National Gallery, Bucharest, Romania.
- Publications
- "S-Benzi", Arta 2, 1970, pp 33-36. (Romanian)
- "Realismul matematic", Arta 7, 1972, pp 34-36. (Romanian)
- [[Media:Epure Sherban 2006 An Artists Journey in Art and Science.pdf|"An Artist's Journey in Art and Science: From behind the Iron Court to Present-Day America"], Leonardo 39:5, MIT Press, Oct 2006, pp 402-409, 436. [1] (English)
- "Intrinsic Art: A Cultural Capsule", Leonardo 49:5, Oct 2016. (English)
- Literature
- Mihai Nadin, "Art as Invention: Sherban Epuré in memoriam", Leonardo blog, Apr 2019. (English)
- See also
- Links
