Robot lends a hand for RA’s portrait of curator Shonibare
Technology meets tradition at this year’s Royal Academy Summer Exhibition with the first painting by a robot in its more than 250-year-history on show.
The bright orange robotic arm — called Heidi — joins the ranks of exhibitors including some of the great names of British painting such as Turner, Gainsborough and Hockney.
It was programmed by artists Rob and Nick Carter to paint the portrait of show curator Yinka Shonibare and took just over 46 hours to complete the job with 11,404 strokes applying the acrylic paint to a 1.2-metre square wooden board.
They said: “We have been working with our robot for four years and cannot believe what we have achieved.
“This is a world’s first, from blank canvas to finished painting, the portrait is untouched by human hands. We loved making this portrait of Yinka.”
The work is part of the pair’s Dark Factory Portraits inspired by the rise of so-called “lights-out manufacturing” where factories operate in darkness by using robotic systems that do not need light to work by.
Previous portraits went on show last year at Ben Brown Fine Arts in Mayfair.
The Royal Academy Summer Exhibition runs until January 2
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