Rob Portman, Oil on
board, 12" x 16", April 24, 2008
Commercial Real Estate Developers Power Breakfast
Thursday, April 24, 2008 at the Duke Energy Center Grand Ballroom, Rob
Portman was the key note speaker at the Cincinnati Business Courier's
seventh annual Commercial Real Estate Developers Power Breakfast. Rob
Portman is one of Cincinnati's favorite political sons who is on Sen.
John McCain's short list of vice presidential running mate candidates.
Portman talked about our three-state region's most powerful connection,
trade as well as took questions about today's political climate and issues
and his future. Also in attendance, Ky. Sec. of State Trey Grayson who
provided a south-of-the-Ohio River view.
Richard T Farmer,
Oil on board, 12" x 16", April 18th, 2008
Richard Farmer, Founder & Chairman of the Board of Cintas Corporation
spoke at Xavier University on April 18th, 2008 as part of the Distinguished
Speakers Series. All were welcome to hear his talk, "10 Important
Experiences Over 50 Years in Business. "
Mike Wilger, proprietor
of the Visual History Gallery, works with "Artisto."
Show of Art Work by
Tom Lohre and a Lego Robot Assistant
Opening: Friday, April 18th, 2008, 6 to 9 p.m. Closing May 18th Visual History Gallery, 2709 Observatory Ave, Cincinnati, OH 45208,
513-871-6065,
Hyde Park Neighborhood, Free, No reservation needed. Children welcomed.
Opening: Friday April 18, 2008, 6 to 9 p.m., light refreshments served.
Open: Open Tues-Thurs: 11-6, Fri: 11-5, Sat: 10-3:30, Sunday by chance
or appointment. Closed Monday Web Site: http://visualhistorygallery.com
The
Story:
The show will be a juxtaposition of paintings done by “Artisto”
and Tom Lohre. Tom will be showing recent portraits painted during the
last six years including six of young children. “Artisto”
the Lego MindStorm Invention will be showing recent paintings started
in February 2006 when “Artisto” was born from a command in
RoboLab, the computer language used with Lego’s MindStorm Invention
System. “Artisto” takes color and placement information from
a plate created by Tom Lohre, his creator, and places the right color
in the right place on the canvas.
During the opening Tom will oscillate between painting a portrait and
monitoring “Artisto” who operates autonomously.
In 1987 Tom started exploring the possibility of having a machine paint.
In 2003 he discovered Lego's MindStorm Invention System and spent four
years learning the software. On January 5th, 2007 at 9:53 PM Tom finally
cracked the code to write a program that took information from an image
in the computer and fed it to a robot.
In the past year, Tom has learned that “Artisto”, the name
Tom has given to the robot, is like a classical assistant. Artisto lays
one of eight colors in generally the correct spot and Tom manipulates
it to refine its placement. Tom initially creates an image in the computer
that Artisto follows. The painting process takes 18 hours for a 16”
x 20” having 4163 dots. Tom can turn “Artisto” off while
working on a painting so the painting does not have to be done all at
one time. All the paintings in the show are close ups of faces because
the resolution is so low that he has to rely on the viewer to fill in
the blanks.
In the future, Tom sees “Artisto” having 16 colors to select
from with Tom working closely with Artisto continually adjusting the paint
as it is laid down. “Artisto” is funded by an individual artists
grant from the City of Cincinnati. This is the second City of Cincinnati
grant Tom Lohre has received for his painting robot.
Dan cuts a little
boys hair with Tom Lohre's paintings in the background. Over 25 paintings
hang on the walls and are for sale.
Join Tom
at Dan's Clifton Barbers every 3rd Wednesday from 4 to 6pm, light refreshments,
children welcomed, 337 Ludlow Ave, Cincinnati OH 45220, near the Esquire
Theater, 513-281-3163. Haircuts available during reception. Next
reception April 16, 2008.
David Handler, 12"
x 16", oil on board, April 1 2007
Painted in honor of his appearance at the Cincinnati Hamilton County Public
Library.
For those not in the know, the affable Handler is known in younger circles
as Lemony Snicket, the elusive author of the immensely popular Series of
Unfortunate Events books for children and a movie based on the first three
books raked it in at the box office.
Master Drew, 24" x 30",
oil on canvas, October 31st, 2007
The final of five portraits
started in 2000 for a grandmother. I takes about a year and a half to
complete such a work. Several months were used to collect infromation.
The face was painted in November 2006, The landscape on the right in April,
the trellis and pourch on the left in June. In October the hands, suit,
foreground and veranda on the lower right were painted.
Entrance to 3-Mile Harbor,
16" x 12, Oil on board, August 2007
The latest in a long line of
paintings done while traveling. Tom's paint box has space for four wet
16" x 12" gessoed boards. Some are panted in one day others
with figures take a week with Tom working on the figure during the evening
and going on location to paint the landscape.
Just
finished after 2 years. Sydney wears a tutu from the Cincinnati Ballet.
She is painted as an Ice Fairy in "The Nutcracker." The dancer
to the right is Tom's daughter, Helen.
Take a peek into Tom's
Apartment in New York City in 1986
United Press International
