Systemic Painting Exhibition, The Guggenheim Museum

This systems-based art exhibit would enable future digital generative practices. Curated by critic Lawrence Alloway, the exhibition coined the phrase “systemic painting” for systems-based work. Such work consisted of mostly abstract geometric compositions with repeated, organized patterns, rooted in minimalism. For Alloway, painting-as-a-system was when an artist created a collection of similar works based on simple rules. “The run of the image constitutes a system, with limits set up by the artist.” For systemic work, Alloway believed that “meaning is complete“ not after a single painting but only when viewing the entire collection as a whole. “The system is the means by which we approach the work of art.“ To analyze the system, “unity within variety" were also important. An example of the kind of system on display was the One Image, the recurring use of a single form. Examples included Kenneth Noland’s chevrons (below) and Ad Reinhardt’s crosses. 28 artists participated in the exhibition, including Agnes Martin (below), Ellsworth Kelly, Frank Stella and Jo Baer. The parallels are clear from this early exhibition of material generative art to today’s short and long form digital collections. “Systemic Painting” also profoundly influenced the aesthetics of artists beginning to create similar geometric compositions with computers.