Aurélien Jeauneau is delighted to present, on the occasion of the annual Paul Bert Serpette Flea Market, his major exhibition of the first computer-programmed drawings by French designers Jean-Pierre and Maryvonne Garrault, for the first time in 65 years:

ARTA - ADVANCED TECHNICAL RESEARCH WORKSHOP
PROGRAMMABLE DRAWINGS (1977-1983)
GARRAULT & CAVADIA
AURELIEN JEAUNEAU GALLERY, STAND 24 AISLE 03 MARCHE SERPETTE

DRAWING WITH THE MACHINE

Between 1977 and 1983, while computer science remained confined to research centers, universities and large companies, French designers Jean-Pierre and Maryvonne Garrault, alongside Georges Cavadia, created ARTA, with a view to exploring a territory that was still largely unexplored: that of computer-generated drawing .

At a time when screens displayed only a few lines of text and computer-aided design was still in its infancy, they wrote programs capable of producing thousands of geometric combinations. The images were not drawn by hand; they were calculated and then materialized on paper using a plotter that moved a pen according to the coordinates defined by the program.

The exhibition ARTA – Programmed Drawings (1977–1983) brings together for the first time an exceptional collection of 15 drawings from these long-confidential explorations. It offers a fresh look at a body of work that predates contemporary generative practices and today's ubiquitous digital tools by several decades.

More than a historical exhibition, ARTA reveals a little-known chapter in the history of French decorative arts, where design, computer science, geometry and craftsmanship interact with astonishing modernity.

ABOUT JEAN-PIERRE & MARYVONNE GARRAULT

Designers and interior architects Jean-Pierre and Maryvonne Garrault have been developing a cross-disciplinary body of work since the 1970s, blending furniture, interior architecture, graphic design, and artistic research. Their work is based on a constructive approach where module, repetition, and variation play a central role.

Between 1977 and 1983, their research conducted with Georges Cavadia at ARTA resulted in a series of computer-programmed drawings, created using algorithmic programs and plotters. Long kept confidential, this body of work now constitutes a major testament to the early French experiments in computer-generated art.

AURELIEN JEAUNEAU

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