Laurence Gartel "The Father of Digital Art", part of the Greatest Photographers of All Times exhibition & FotoMentor Award 2009

 

Laurence Gartel "The Father of Digital Art", part of the Greatest Photographers of All Times exhibition & winner of the FotoMentor Award in 2009.

Laurence Gartel: Known as ‘The Father of Digital Art’, Gartel’s vision was to create electronic images, capture them with a still camera off a monitor as there were no saving devices or software to store the created picture. He saw these images as works of Art that would eventually replace painting. In 1985 he delivered the keynote speech at the First Pan Pacific Computer Conference in Melbourne, Australia predicting the future of the world, which landed him on the front page of “The Australian” Newspaper. This was the same year he taught Andy Warhol how to use the Amiga Computer to create the album cover for Debbie Harry (Blondie.) It was a moment when “Pop Art met Digital Art.” In 1991, he produced his famous ABSOLUT GARTEL ad for Absolut Vodka. Gartel had a feature exhibition at the Norton Museum of Art, and in 2009 he received the Palm Beach Photographic Centre’s prestigious FOTOmentor Award. In his 40+ year career he created artwork for the 57th Annual Grammy Awards; Newport Jazz Festival; NASA; Monaco International Film Festival; Feature of the 113th New York International Auto Show; Oslo Motor Show Norway and much more.