Paul Brown, artist and writer, has kindly put together a nice little article on Desmond Paul Henry. It tells the story of Henry's progression from the army to art. Brown also links Henry's work to that of the American experimental animator John Whitney Snr. You can read the article by visiting Paul Brown and Son's website.
Desmond Henry Promo Video
Posted October 2010
This short promotional video was pieced together by the web team at Redinko. An original piece of music was supplied by Manchester electro musician Dubsy Asylum.
Fa Fa Fa Fa, Fashion
Posted Sept 2010
Ashley Linn Martin of Women’s Wear Daily, New York, has asked permission to use a Henry image in a forthcoming publication entitled: Designers’ Inspirations. Ashley tells me that Henry’ s work has inspired the ‘bon chic bon genre’ (BCBG) clothing designed by Max Azria.
Desmond Back in Manchester
Posted Sept 2010
The Manchester Museum of Science and Industry will be holding a solo commemorative exhibition of Henry's machine-generated artwork from the 7th of February to the 8th of May, 2011. This will be an unique opportunity and not one to be missed, so make a note in your culture diary.
The V&A's Annual Review 2009 - 2010
Posted Sept 2010
Good Things Come in Threes
Posted May 2010
First: The Henry Archive is pleased to announce that the prestigious Anne and Michael Spalter Computer Art Collection have acquired a number of Henry originals to add to their major collection of early Digital Art.
Second: The world famous Swarovski Jewellers have been granted permission to use two Henry images in their forthcoming brochure. (Right) Here is the Henry image as used on P.11 of the SWAROVSKI GEMS™ brochure entitled 'Gemtronic', which concentrates upon genuine gemstones and created stones.
Last but not least: The Victoria and Albert Museum in London are about to include one of Henry’s drawings from their collection in the Museum's Annual Review.
Henry in Berlin: 6th March - 20th April
Posted March 2010
Elaine's thanks go to Aaaron Moulton, Director of the Feinkost Gallery in Berlin, for wanting to include some Henry originals in an exhibition which pays homage to J.G.Ballard and runs from 6/3/2010 to 20/04/2010. Aaron's enthusiasm for Henry's works has been most exhilirating.
Henry: the only British example of a Digital Pioneer of the 1960's to be included in the V & A's collection
Posted Feb 2010
Elaine O'Hanrahan and husband Sean travelled down to London to visit the Digital Pioneers display at the Victoria and Albert Museum. There they were very pleased and proud to find a Henry original on display in Room 88, flanked by such well-known Digital Pioneers as Ben Laposky and Herbert Franke. Henry is the only British example of a Digital Pioneer of the 1960's to be included in the V & A's collection. The other pioneers of the sixties in the collection are mainly American and German. Henry would have been pleased to see that the adjoining room to his contained pictures by Constable and Turner.
See For Yourself
Posted Feb 2010
These Four original pictures produced by Desmond Paul Henry’s drawing machines are currently (Feb. 3rd- Feb. 7th 2010) on display in the Kinetic Masters Feature Section of Kinetica Art Fair 2010, being held at Ambika P3 in London’s West End.
Henry’s daughter, Elaine O'Hanrahan, travelled down to London on Thursday Feb. 4th for the packed preview night. On Feb. 5th at 11.0am, proudly displaying the Henry image above (white on black) on her T-Shirt, she gave a talk on her father which was very well received.
This is how the talk was presented in the official programme of talks:
Friday 5th February - Kinetic and Cybernetic Masters, Past, Present and Future.
11.00 - Elaine O'Hanrahan - Drawing machines of Desmond Paul Henry
The Kinetica Art Fair
Posted Jan 2010
Dianne Harris, curator and director of Kinetica Art Fair 2010 has very kindly agreed, at very short notice, to include Henry in this February's forthcoming London show. It was Jasia Reichardt, curator of the sixties' seminal art and technology exhibition at the ICA Cybernetic Serendipity (1968), to which Henry was a contributor, who suggested to Dianne the possibility of Henry's inclusion in Kinetica's Cybernetic Serendipity feature section.
News in 2009
The Pioneers
Posted Nov 2009
The Victoria and Albert Museum in London are including one of DP Henry's images in their forthcoming display entitled Digital Pioneers. It opens on 7 December and is on until June 2010. They are also planning to include audio-visual material from the Desmond Henry web-site.
DPH In Manchester
Posted Sept 2009
Robin Holgate of the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry has expressed an interest in holding a Henry exhibition in the 1830 warehouse building. This would be a fantastic opportunity to actually view the original pictures themselves.
Henry On TV
Posted Sept 2009
Great news !!! New Zealand TV have kindly asked permission to include pictures by Henry in an Art and Technology programme. This will surely help bolster the profile of the artist and to ensure he is correctly credited in being a pioneer of machine generated drawings.
Television by Getty Images
DPH Fresh Off The Press
Posted Aug 2009
The Guardian’s Victor Keegan has kindly included Desmond Paul Henry within an article concerning art which is produced digitally. It highlights the attitudes towards the production of art and how many end-users of various pieces of software now use these tools to produce creative works.
Computer art, one of the wonders of the digital age, can be traced back at least to the 1950s when Dr Desmond Paul Henry experimented with a Sperry bombsight computer bought in an army surplus store in Manchester. Encouraged by the famous Salford painter LS Lowry, he produced innovative art spun out of a computer. Since then, the digital revolution has propelled art into new and often controversial areas. (Victor Keegan: A brush with the digital art revolution The Guardian, Wednesday August 19, 2009)
You can read the full article on the Gaurdian's website.
From Honour Beddard of the Victoria and Albert Museum to Elaine O'Hanrahan
Posted May 2009
"I thought I'd let you know that I gave a public talk on our computer art collection at the end of April, and was able to show one of the works you recently donated. It was wonderful for us to be able to offer our audiences the chance to be able to see such important early work, and it was very helpful in putting much of the later work in context".
Visit to the Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Posted April 2009
Thanks again to Paul Brown who suggested to Elaine that Henry be included in the Computer Arts and Technocultures Project currently being run by Birkbeck College and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Paul put Elaine in contact with Honour Beddard of the Victoria and Albert Museum who then arranged a meeting with Elaine on April 6, 2009. Elaine once again travelled down from Manchester to London armed with a selection of Henry originals, her thesis (hard copy and on CD) and the Henry brochure.
Honour had very kindly set out a display of some other originals executed by artists from the Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition which Elaine found especially exciting to see. Doug Dodds, curator of the Victoria and Albert’s Digital Gallery also joined Honour and Elaine. Once again, they expressed a genuine interest in Henry’s work and were delighted by the fact the examples Elaine had brought were executed so early in the sixties- 1961 to be precise. They were equally delighted when Elaine agreed to donate three Henry originals to their archive, together with a copy of the brochure and a CD of the thesis which they intend to have printed. Doug explained how only the week prior to Elaine’s.
Kinetica Art Fair
Posted On March 1st 2009
Elaine O’Hanrahan visited the Kinetica Art Fair in London, taking with her samples of her father’s machine-generated artwork, a copy of her thesis and a colour brochure outlining her father’s achievement as a pioneer of Computer Art. Paul Brown from the Computer Arts Society was there to welcome Elaine and very kindly introduced her to some key figures in the world of machine-generated art such as Jasia Reichardt (curator of Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition, I.C.A., 1968), Mike Stubbs, (Director of FACT- Foundation For Art and Creative Technology based in Liverpool), Wolf Leiser (Director of DAM-Digital Art Museum- Berlin) and Tony Langford (Director Kinetica Art Museum). They were very enthusiastic and encouraging about what she had to show them and seemed genuinely interested and keen to help in promoting Henry.
It was an especial privilege to meet Jasia Reichardt who was responsible for including Henry’s work and second drawing machine in the seminal sixties art and technology exhibition, Cybernetic Serendipity. Jasia seemed to particularly enjoy seeing copies of her correspondence with Henry in relation to Cybernetic Serendipity. Elaine especially enjoyed Jasia’s talk and slides of the actual Cybernetic Serendipity exhibition itself.
Jasia also encouraged Elaine to put together a lecture on Henry, which she has duly done and delivered to Art Foundation students at Xaverian Sixth Form College Manchester (25/03/09). It was well received.
Elaine’s special thanks go to Paul Brown for his help and encouragement.
Henry's Artwork Back In Fashion
Posted March 2009
Fresh for 2009, the band Kontra Musik have decided to use the work of Desmond Paul Henry to feature on their promotional T-shirts. The group produces a relaxing blend of electronica music.
News in 2008
Hear Desmond Paul Henry Himself
Posted May 2008
Thanks to some new technology, we have been able to clean up the recordings of a rare interview with Desmond Paul Henry. Although these recordings are still a bit scratchy in sound, they are an interesting insight it to the roots of the artists style.
To listen please visit the following page ... [Rare Sound Files]
If you have written a blog or have any stories or memories which relate to Desmond Paul Henry, then please feel free to contact us via the email form provided on the site.
