Clive McCarthy

About the artist:

Clive McCarthy's artistic practice is a deliberate exploration of technological creativity. As an artist who writes his own code, McCarthy treats programming as a painterly medium, meticulously recreating weaves, brush strokes, and other artistic techniques through synthetic digital processes. Each work is based on a series of photographs which McCarthy scrapes from the internet and the computer “paints” in a random sequence that continues indefinitely. For this exhibition, McCarthy created Threadbare, a series of coded images that delve into the intricate interplay between fashion, haute couture, and the materiality of fabric.

McCarthy spent most of his career as chief engineer at the semiconductor maker Altera before taking up art in 1997. He received his MFA in New Genres from the San Francisco Art Institute. McCarthy lives and works in San Francisco, CA.

 

Artwork in exhibition:

 

Clive McCarthy, Threadbare, 2024, Custom software, 57" x 32", courtesy of the artist