Charles A. Csuri (aka Charles A. Csuri)

Charles A. Csuri was an artist and computer graphics pioneer and Professor at The Ohio State University. He exhibited his paintings in New York City from 1955–1965. His early work is in the collections of Walter P. Chrysler, movie actor Jose Ferrer, pop artist Roy Lichtenstein and sculptor George Segal.

In 1964, he experimented with computer graphics technology and in 1965 he began creating computer animated films. The 4th International Experimental Film Festival, Brussels, Belgium, 1967, awarded him the prize for animation. His work was highlighted in the exhibition Cybernetic Serendipity held at The Institute for Contemporary Art, London, England, 1968. One of Charles Csuri's computer films is in the collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.

With support from the National Science Foundation, the Navy, and the Air Force Office of Scientific Research, he directed basic research in computer graphics for over 22 years. This research activity involved 15 major projects and over eight million dollars. More than forty graduate students in computer science were engaged in the research. In addition, there were over fifty students from the field of art. The results of the research have been applied to flight simulators, computer-aided design, visualization of scientific phenomena , magnetic resonance imaging, education for the deaf, architecture, and special effects for television and films.

Csuri received the Distinguished Research Award from The Ohio State University in 1983. He was the keynote speaker at Nicograph, Tokyo, Japan, 1984 and 1992, an international computer graphics conference. He co-founded Cranston / Csuri Productions, which produced animation for all three major U.S. television networks, commercial clients, and The Living Body, a series of 24 television programs which the BBC has distributed worldwide. The Visual Communications Congress, New York, gave him the Golden Eagle award in 1985.

He exhibited at the 42nd Biennale de Venezia, Italy, 1986 and the Smithsonian in Washinton D.C., 1990. Ars Electronica a major international competition on computers and the arts held in Austria each year, awarded him prizes in 1989 and 1990. (This competition is sponsored by Siemans with over $100,000 in prizes.)

Matthew Mirapaul of the New York Times wrote a review of Siggraph's Retrospective for Pioneer of Computer-Based Art. He included a statement by Barbara London of the Museum of Modern Art. "What [Csuri] did was way ahead of his time," said Barbara London, MOMA's associate curator of film and video. "I put him in a league with people like Ed Emshwiller, who came out of painting and science-fiction illustration. They really had a vision of how to use these tools."
http://csuriproject.osu.edu/index.php/About/biography (accessed 01/25/2018)