MAX'S ART GALLERY; A RETIRED ENGLISH PROFESSOR PUTS MOUSE STROKES ON WEB

As a relatively new medium, computer art has not yet developed the level of respectability traditional painting has.

But Dr. Max Cordonnier, who works in mouse strokes rather than brush strokes, says computer painting opens up frontiers unattainable outside the electronic world.

A collection of Cordonnier's computer-created artwork is currently on display at Kent Library on the Southeast Missouri State University campus.

However, Cordonnier feels the tangible version of computer art doesn't allow full access to the work.

"To me, when it is in a case in a hard copy, it is just in one state of its possibilities," he says.

Computer-art, he says, is best viewed through the tool used to create it.

Unlike traditional painting, computer art has an exploratory aspect. When examined on the computer screen, viewers can magnify sections to find new images and meanings.

"You can explore it in a way you can't with any other art," Cordonnier says.

There are limitations, however. With computers, the artist can only simulate aspects of traditional painting.

"When it is done, it is still an electronic painting," Cordonnier says. "It's not like going into a gallery and seeing the brush strokes of Van Gogh or the texture of Cezanne."

Cordonnier, a professor emeritus of English at Southeast Missouri State University, features his art, poetry, old photos of Cape Girardeau and other items of interest on Max's Art Gallery, his own personal website. The gallery can be reached at http://www.americaninternet.com/maxart/index.htm. He has had more than 500 hits to the site since Christmas.

Cordonnier had only dabbled in acrylic painting before he developed his passion for creating computer art.

"I never was a painter. I was an English teacher wanting to be a poet and now wanting to be an artist," Cordonnier says.

For the novice, one of the major pluses of computerized painting is that it is very forgiving. One of Cordonnier's works, "Ghost Dog," developed out of some misstrokes.

"It started as a mistake. Then all of a sudden I could see a shape begin to form," Cordonnier says.

Computer paintings can be altered, upgraded and overhauled as many times as the artist deems necessary.

"Many of these paintings go through 20 different versions. That is one of the advantages of computer art: You can keep modifying it over and over and over," Cordonnier says.

"One thing I like about it is how versatile it is. You can create things very fast and redo them in ways that would be impossible with traditional art."

Cordonnier includes myriad other elements in his pieces, something not possible with traditional painting. Many of his works incorporate photographs or graphics imported into the painting.

The painting "Orchard Dreams," for example includes an old photograph of his grandmother, his dog and himself as a boy in front of an apple orchard. By painting around those images, Cordonnier creates a surreal world within the photograph.

As one might suspect, Cordonnier draws much of his inspiration from literature. He has done a whole series of paintings based on Geoffrey Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales."

With those paintings, as with many of his works, Cordonnier uses Internet communication to get input on details from scholars and other experts. Professors from around the world with medieval backgrounds advise him on various aspects of life, fashion and architecture of that period.

They are not always pleased with his interpretations.

"Their goals are not necessarily the same as mine," Cordonnier says. "They want things to be as medieval as possible, and I am concerned with maybe giving a modern angle to the medieval world."

Cordonnier enjoys eliciting feedback, whether positive or negative, from people who visit his website. Like most creative minds, he wants to know what others think of his creations.

His own poetry has provided significant inspiration for his paintings. More recently he's taken it the other way and written poems inspired by his paintings. On the website, Cordonnier uses the written and visual forms to complement each other.

"One concept I try to stay with is showing how words and images play off of each other," he says. "They are not always supportive of each other. Sometimes there is a tension between the two, and I think that is fascinating."