Artist Profile: Paul Slocum


16 x 16 Candles, screenshot, (2006)





A number of your works, like 16 x 16 Candles and You’re Not My Father, or the Atari-based works use the shift from the aesthetic of pop culture or games to create a different aesthetic, of net and gallery-based art. Can you talk a little bit about this and about your affinity with the aesthetics of 1980s video games especially?

I like Atari 2600 games partly because that is the first game system I had, and I always wanted to make games for it.  But I also love the way the graphics are so abstracted due to the machine limitations, and working with machines like this turns graphics programming into this unusual puzzle that is a catalyst for creativity.






Flatbush, NY.


When I was in elementary school, I took a summer class for kids to learn Logo graphics programming on the Texas Instruments 99/4a computer.  I loved making and programming graphics, and continued to program whenever I had access to a computer. Later on, when I got a Commodore 64, I continued creating simple art-like graphics and music programs, and later incorporated this software into bands that I played with. In the late 80s, I got one of my abstract graphics programs published in 3-2-1 Contact magazine and they paid me $25.


Most of my tools are software and I've used many different kinds. I use a lot of compilers and assemblers for different languages and platforms. For programming iPhone apps I use Apple's XCode. For image editing I use GIMP instead of Photoshop, although I'm considering getting Photoshop because GIMP is really far behind. For video editing I use an open source script-based editor called AVISynth.

Where did you go to school? What did you study? 

I have a bachelor’s degree in computer science from University of Texas at Dallas, which is a tech-oriented school.


I painted a little in college, and I produce prints.  Some of my prints are arguably a kind of photography. I think the traditional thing that contributes the most to my new media artwork is my music.

There is a lot of crossover.


I play music using the apps that I've been building, which is currently my creative focus. I have written a few essays about art and music. And/Or, the gallery I ran, was essentially a lot of community organizing, but I don't do anything like that now.


Most of my work has been different kinds of embedded systems programming jobs, which is programming work on devices other than desktop computers or laptops: like the iPhone, a handheld inventory scanner, an Atari 2600, a printer, etc. Since much of my artwork and music involve programming, I use a lot of the same skills at work and in my artwork.  I also have sometimes earned part of my living doing commercial music, which is primarily how I supported the gallery.

Who are your key artistic influences?

Some big-time artists I really admire are Duchamp, Mike Judge, and Ariel Pink. Kevin Bewersdorf, Guthrie Lonergan, and Cory Arcangel are some of my most direct influences.


I've done quite a few collaborations. One of my favorites is when I worked with Mike Smith to restore an arcade game that he made in the mid-80s called "Mike Builds a Shelter." The game was a custom-built cabinet with a TV and a Commodore 64. We had the cabinet rebuilt and artwork recreated, and I restored the game from some old disks and source code.

Do you actively study art history?

I've spent some time studying it in the past, but I never studied it in school. At times I've considered getting some kind of art degree, but it seems unlikely that I will now. 


I like William Poundstone, Dave Hickey, Susan Sontag. I'm really into religious philosophy and probably read that more than anything else.


It's too expensive to do.