Fracture
A collage of generative code, robot drawing and hand-marbled washi. The algorithm grows cracks through a simulated stress field, branching and stopping where they meet. Drawn in ink on kraft card by a Line-us drawing arm. Three layers in a shadow box: the drawing, marbled washi and torn kozo.
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This piece fuses work from a computational drawing session on a recent trip to the Santa Cruz Mountains and various paper marbling sessions. I found that collaging the two made sense, particularly the Fracture drawings, with their abstract fault lines, leaves, and spider webs against the earthy browns and charcoals of the marbled papers. The piece represents a childhood memory the trip brought back, which made it a perfect fit for the Memory Lane show, where each piece hangs with a short story of its memory.
Read the story from the wall label
On October 17, 1989, I was twelve and home alone, drawing on the computer we got for Christmas, something I'd first learned to do with code on an Apple II at school. That day, the Loma Prieta earthquake shook the Bay. It interrupted the World Series, dropped a span of the Bay Bridge, and toppled the Cypress Freeway. It left an impression.
This spring, on a trip to reconnect with my creative practice, I hiked that same fault line through the redwoods looking for a subject. What's distinctly mine? I asked. What's distinctly home? My collaborator for this trip was a small robot drawing arm with a character all its own. I taught it to make abstract images, but it refused straight lines with ferocity. I needed to find something that suited its particular wobbly way of working.
On the hike, I remembered that moment as a kid. How I felt then. In awe. Curious. Unsure what would happen next. Back in the present, I thought, what an incredible place this is. Centuries of winding roots and earthquake faults underneath my feet. None of these lines are straight, but they're perfect. And I'm still doing this, decades later. Making sense of how I perceive the world around me and what part the tools play. Asking, what should we make?
Chris De Giere
Computational drawing, hand-marbled washi, collage
11×14 inches (27.94 × 35.56 cm), framed
2026
Exhibited in Memory Lane (juried), Forest Gallery, Pacific Art League, Palo Alto, CA, September 4–22, 2026