Interruptions embodies Vera Molnar’s view that a successful abstract composition contains elements of both order and disorder. A pioneer of computer-assisted art, Molnar created this work in 1968, the year she first gained access to an IBM mainframe computer at the University of Paris-Sorbonne. The voids in the drawing are the result of randomness that Molnar built into the program. “This was more complicated, but more interesting, than limiting myself to an ‘all-over’ composition,” she once wrote. She defines an all-over composition as one in which “there are no privileged places on the surface, every place is occupied by a form, a line, a color having the same visual weight.” The holes interrupt the all-over composition, creating what Molnar calls “a disturbed equilibrium.”
Vera Molnar (b. 1924), Interruptions, 1968. Black ink on translucent paper, created on a Benson plotter, 12 5/8 x 12 5/8 inches (32 x 32 cm). Gift of Agnes Gund, 2017.353. © Vera Molnar / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York