Liat Grayver (Israeli, b. 1986) Just Before It Snaps: RED, 2016
robotic and manual painting on canvas mounted on board
44 × 34 cm
Signed on the back
Collection of Bre Pettis
CA.2026.161
Description
From the series Just Before it Snaps, early abstract paintings made with the e-David painting robot at the University of Konstanz in June 2016. Grayver describes the series as "an investigation into abstract thought and experimentation with composition as energy fields," seeking the "border areas" where coincidental and intentional brushstrokes balance: singular lines construct each painting, every new line generated from programmed variables in relation to the one before it. Unlike a human painter's interactive exchange with the material, all of the robot's actions must be predetermined — limitations the artist found productive for "new, uncontrolled and surprising brushstrokes." Acquired from Code + Paint at DAM Projects, Berlin (2026). (Sources: Gülzow, Grayver & Deussen, "Self-Improving Robotic Brushstroke Replication," Arts 7(4), 2018; damprojects.org)