Aldo Giorgini

Aldo Giorgini (March 15, 1934 - October 1994) was an Italian artist and a pioneer in computer graphics. He is the father of music producer Mass Giorgini.

Biography

Giorgini was born in Voghera, in the province of Pavia (northern Italy). He was a high school classmate of fashion designer Valentino, who was also a student of design of Ernestina Salvadeo, Giorgini's maternal aunt.

Formally trained by Italian Futurist painter-sculptor Ambrogio Casati, Giorgini stayed on with his mentor as an apprentice, and assisted in the restoration of classic works by old masters damaged during the Second World War. Simultaneously attending university coursework outside of his work in the arts, Giorgini earned a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from Politecnico di Torino before travelling to the United States on a Fulbright Scholarship. There, Giorgini earned a second doctorate, this time a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Colorado State University, and accepted a professorial position at Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana.

At Purdue he taught in the School of Civil Engineering. He was an outstanding teacher of fluid mechanics and engineering mathematics at the graduate and undergraduate levels. He was an enthusiastic teacher for entry-level civil engineering courses introducing these new students to the beauty of engineering, mathematics, and art. A favourite for many students was Professor Giorgini's display of his slide collection of European civil engineering "art-work".

Once established in this new position, Giorgini resumed his artistic work, combining his technical expertise with computers from his engineering training with his background in the visual arts, thus becoming one of the first computer artists.

His art was generated on the Purdue University mainframe computer (CDC) and printed onto large Mylar sheets using Calcomp printers. Professor Giorgini and students would painstakenly hand-ink the works of art strewn through the fluid mechanics laboratory of the School of Civil Engineering.

A childhood prisoner of war in the African country of Eritrea himself during World War II, Giorgini often imbued his works with anti-war themes, frequently combining these with critiques of the use of technology for mass destruction. A number of his works are in the permanent collections of the Smithsonian Institution and the Carnegie-Mellon Art Museum.

Aldo Giorgini died in Indianapolis, in October 1994, of brain cancer.

External links

* [http://www.soniciguana.com/AldoEXP/CEProf.htm "Giorgini Connects Art, Science." 1974 Article on Aldo Giorgini]
* [http://www.atariarchives.org/artist/sec3.php "Aldo Giorgini," Chapter from 1975 book "The Artist and the Computer", by Ruth Leavitt.]