The term "electronic paintings' refers to computer graphics that in some manner relates to the painter's art, i.e, the use of formal qualities characteristic to painting. Though both painting and drawing share a number of these forms, that which is usually considered distinctive to painting is color. Computers have remarkable facility with color in graphic design applications, evidenced by brilliant computer screen displays, enabling the computer artist to create endless images "painted" with "millions of colors" available on the screen. But the art fails if it has no foundation in the elements of artistic training and experience in traditional media and methods. Computer art by John Fischer bears the mark of the experienced virtual artist. His background in traditional art training at City University in New York, along with many years of exploration of the media of painting and drawing, give evidence to the mature vision of this artist. Born in Antwerp, Belgium, in 1930, Fischer's education also includes study in classical piano which launched his later interest into modern jazz. His numerous jazz compositions for piano developed into a career parallel with his painting and sculpture, soon to become uniquely integrated with his computer-generated art. It was not until 1975 that Fischer began to discover a correlation between the composition of music by electronic means with that of electronic "painting." As computer technology advanced, his art evolved into color fantasies that shared paradigms with that of music. His recent compositions include video productions of images and music that bear the rhythmic parameters of each. Fischer described the discovery of the phenomenon in his art, remarking in 1993 that: After years of drawing and painting with traditional materials, I found in the computer's graphic capabilities a magical universe--irresistible, fascinating. The computer's visual prowess is seemingly endless in its diversity. In collaboration with the latest in software programming, the artist creates new pictorial vocabularies... The computer solves visual problems in a way that changes the rhythm of the creative process. The transformations are virtually instantaneous. The work appears in the mind's eye and is realized on the monitor's screen. Suggesting the immediacy of the resolution of idea and image, Fischer developed an affinity with a medium that was boundless in its anticipations. Rather than the more pedestrian term, computer art, the artist prefers the notion of "electronic paintings," which lends an air of sophistication to a medium both facile and quickly realized. Fischer's electronic painting, CD017, 1997, exemplifies the elements of abstract lines and tertiary colors in a "wash" of greens and oranges across its surface. Working in Pixel Paint® and Adobe Photoshop®, Fisher achieves a painterly quality in his work that is subsequently printed on handmade archival paper, creating an effect of a color lithograph or tightly controlled watercolor painting. The colors are saturated, intense with a preponderance of movement that almost suggests a musical accompaniment. Fischer spends his time now in his New York environs and in those of Geneva, Switzerland, where he enjoys the stimulation of sharing his discoveries through teaching art. His legacy to the world of music is replete with composition including a concerto for piano with thirteen instruments as well as an octet for woodwinds and brass. He has appeared at jazz festivals in Austria, Germany, France, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, the Soviet Union, and the United States. Fischer's legacy to the visual arts appears in the current exhibition at the Lore Degenstein Gallery. We are appreciative of the artist's efforts to bring our audience over fifty works that alloww us a glimpse of the breadth of invention availabe in the world of computer art. The exhibition is made possible through the generosity of the Charles B. Degenstein foundation which supports the gallery's programs.   CD017. John Fischer. Print on handmade archival paper. 1997. 36 x 36"