Disorder in Order | The Art of Vera Molnar

Not only is Vera Molnar a pivotal figure of contemporary art, but, ironically, a significant precursor to it. Her imagination has been captured by the relationship of the ‘machine imaginaire,’ a machine replacing the human element, and art as early as the 50s and the 60s. Soon after, she learned how to code and went on with creating computer-generated art, which earned her international recognition and the title of pioneer of computer art. It would, however, be no small feat to pigeonhole her work. Strictly speaking, her oeuvre, too elusive to meet rigid criteria, could neither be labelled concrete nor geometric abstraction. It is not concrete for it runs moderately but steadily counter to the rules of concrete abstraction; nor is she an exponent of geometric abstraction, as instead of shapes, she works with lines. Which then become, at her will, simple geometric shapes.

As the artist puts it:

le crayon court sur le papier,
le regard scrute les traces longuement,
la gomme efface tout
et on recommence.

histoire de ma vie

the pencil runs on the paper,
the eyes behold the lines for a long time,
the rubber erases everything
then it starts again.

story of my life

What makes Vera Molnar’s oeuvre an outstanding artistic achievement is that she is able to use the computer in a humanistic rather than an impersonal, mechanic, or cold way; her works bear all of the marks of the artist’s imagination, creativity, and unquenchable passion for experimenting. The computer, then, neither disposes of nor eliminates the artist – critical artistic processes are performed in the human mind. It is but a tool overcoming the limits of finite combinations and randomization that facilitates artistic work. The artist is the one who makes the decisions – and Vera Molnar excels at that.