You might call Adrian Wilson the apostle of the British Quantel Paintbox, the revolutionary digital imaging processor that forever changed the visual world and ushered in the screen age. Wilson gave a talk (part 1 of 2) on the origin of Paintbox for the Computer Arts Society at the British Computer Society in London last week that contains lots of unseen graphics, art and interviews—including the first by Paintbox inventor Paul Kellar. He’s also created a 3D virtual exhibit that he hopes will find a real venue.
Ultimately, Wilson hopes the Quantel Paintbox will receive the homage it is due; its ability to make bitmapped pictures indeed makes it a pioneering device. Some of its early adopters were Keith Haring and David Hockney; Wilson managed to find all the Hockney Paintbox pieces, which have just been accessioned to the Hockney Archive from Wilson’s Paintbox Archive, including previous unseen work created on the Paintbox for the Painting With Light film that was broadcast in 1987.
