Esteban Garcia Bravo explores computational art as a researcher, a practitioner and as an educator. His recent public art interventions include a multi-level installation at the Trades District Garage in Bloomington, IN; Gleam: The art of Light at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, WI; and the Grand Rapids Public Museum in Art Prize 10. His work involves unique ways of creating highly attractive public audiovisual sculptures that embed animations, LEDs, video projections, and Virtual Reality. Garcia Bravo creates light-based perceptual experiences that invite the viewers to become more aware of the present moment through the use of colors, shapes, and time.
He is currently an Associate professor of Computer Graphics Technology at Purdue University.
Esteban Garcia Bravo, MFA, Ph.D. researches computer art history and digital media art practices. His research has been featured in the annual meetings of international organizations such as SIGGRAPH (2011, 2015, 2016, 2017) and ISEA (2012, 2013, 2014, 2017), as well as in the publication Leonardo Journal of Art, Sciences and Technology. Dr. Garcia Bravo’s scholarship elaborates on the history and significance of Computational Art since the 1960s.
Odefunso, A. E., Garcia Bravo, E., & Chen, Y. V. (2022). Traditional African Dances Preservation Using Deep Learning Techniques. Proceedings of the ACM on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, 5(4), 1-11. *Best Art Paper Award doi: https://doi.org/10.1145/3533608
Mazuera, E.F, Burbano, A.F, Meyer, Z.G, & Garcia Bravo, E.F (2021). Ciudad Antigua: From Remote Sensing to Virtual Interactive Experience of a Pre-Hispanic Settlement in Colombia. Artnodes, 2021(28). doi: https://doi.org/10.7238/artnodes.v0i28.375755
Chowdhury, S. N., Nyga, P., Kudyshev, Z. A., Garcia Bravo, E., Lagutchev, A. S., Kildishev, A. V., Shalaev, V. M., & Boltasseva, A. (2021). Lithography-Free Plasmonic Color Printing with Femtosecond Laser on Semicontinuous Silver Films. ACS Photonics, 8(2), 521-530. doi: 10.1021/acsphotonics.0c01506, https://doi.org/10.1021/acsphotonics.0c01506
Garcia Bravo, E., Forbes, A.G., Han, Y.C., & Boy, J. (2019). Highlights from the IEEE VIS 2016 and 2017 Arts Program. Leonardo Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, 1-25. doi: https://doi.org/10.1162/leon_a_01701
Bartholomew, S. R., Zhang, L.G, Garcia Bravo, E., & Strimel, G. J. (2019). A Tool for Formative Assessment and Learning in a Graphics Design Course: Adaptive Comparative Judgment. The Design Journal, 22(1), 73-95. doi: https://doi.org/10.1080/14606925.2018.1560876
Garcia Bravo, E., Burbano, A., & Forbes, A. G. (2017). “The Interactive Image”: A Media Archaeology Approach. Leonardo Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, 50(4). doi: 10.1162/LEON_a_01454.
McGraw, T. E., Garcia Bravo, E., McGraw, J., & Parker, L. (2016). Fractal image editing with PhotoFrac. Journal of Science and Technology of the Arts (CITAR), 8(2), 11. doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.7559/citarj.v8i2.175
Garcia Bravo, E. (2015). “Photo and Palette: Early Pixel-Based Computer Art.” In Data Drift: Archiving Media and Data Art in the 21st Century. Eds. Smite, R., Smits, R., Manovich, E. RIXC, LiepU MPLab
Garcia Bravo, E. (2015). Cybernethisms: Aldo Giorgini’s computer art legacy. West Lafayette, IN: Purdue University Press
Burbano, A., García Bravo, E. (2015). “Breaking the Navajo Code with Bill Toledo”. In: Pau Alsina and Ana Rodriguez Granell (coord.). “Art Matters II”. Artnodes. Nº. 16
Garcia Bravo, E., Garcia, J. A. (2015). Yturralde: Impossible figure generator. Leonardo Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, 48(4), pp.366-374. ACM SIGGRAPH 2015
Garcia Bravo, E., Garcia, J. A., Zernack, A. (2015). XV: Reactive Spaces. BCS: The Chartered Institute for IT, Electronic Workshops in Computing (eWiC) Electronic Visualisation and the Arts (EVA 2015)(2015)
Garcia, E., & Whittinghill, D. (2011). Art and code: The aesthetic legacy of Aldo Giorgini. Leonardo Journal of the International Society for the Arts, Sciences and Technology, 44(4), pp.309-316. ACM SIGGRAPH 2011
Conference Proceedings
Garcia Bravo, E., McGraw, T. E. (2015). Ideal Flow: The Art and Science of Early Computational Models by Aldo Giorgini. In Bebis, G. et al. (Eds.) Advances in Visual Computing: 11th International Symposium of Visual Computing (ISVC’15). Las Vegas, NV: Springer
Garcia, E. & Restrepo, I. (2014). 2467/3970: A shortcut to connect Purdue University (USA) and Universidad de Antioquia (Colombia) in an interdisciplinary experience between art and technology. Twentieth International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA), Dubai, UAE
Garcia, E. (2013, June). Stretch: An early software art framework by Aldo Giorgini. Paper presented at the nineteenth International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA), Sydney, Australia.
Burbano, A. & Garcia, E. (2013). Re:imag(in)ing Indigenous Media Art Histories. Panel presented at the nineteenth International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA), Sydney, Australia.
Garcia, E. (2012). Radio Chigüiro: Making community radio. Paper presented at the eighteenth International Symposium of Electronic Arts (ISEA), Albuquerque, New Mexico
Book Chapters
Altstatt, R., & Garcia Bravo, E. (2020). Stand for Civic Engagement. Community, Culture, and Development (pp. 17-32). New York, NY: Routledge.
Garcia Bravo, E., Ashby, I. V.G, & Exter, M. (2017). A Case Study on Computer Graphics Technology. In Perkins, R., Green, L.S., Banas, J.R. (Ed.), The Flipped College Classroom: Conceptualized and Re-Conceptualized. Springer.
Public Art
2022 “Ensemble” Allentown Arts Alley, City of Allentown, PA
2021 “Plasmonic Kaleidoscope” Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN
2021 “Aurora Almanac” Trades District Garage, City of Bloomington, IN
2018 Art Prize 10, Grand Rapids Public Museum, MI
2018 GLEAM: Art in a New Light. Olbrich Botanical Gardens, Madison, WI
2017 Shimmer: The Art of Light, City of Chapel Hill, NC
2016 “Geode” Public Arts Grant, Tippecanoe Arts Federation, Lafayette, IN
Other Publications
Garcia, E. & A.Nemec (2010). Strangely Funny in Aspect-EZ: The Chronicle of New Media Art (Volume I). [DVD]