Painting with Light

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Paintbox was the world’s first 24-bit, real-time, broadcast-quality digital design and art studio that required no computer skills and was simply controlled by Quantel's patented pressure-sensitive stylus and tablet.

Launched in 1981. Paintbox quickly gained popularity in the broadcast industries, transforming the way graphics and effects were created for television and film.

Though you are unlikely to have heard of it, Paintbox introduced digital visuals into homes across the world via news, weather graphics, titles, logos, music videos and television adverts. The Paintbox would heavily influence the look and feel of the 1980s - it turbocharged the emerging video post-production sector and it paved the way for our “Photoshop Era”.

Paintbox's influence extended beyond the technical aspects of image and video manipulation; it also impacted the artistic process. Artists could explore new possibilities, pushing the boundaries of creativity in the visual medium.

This exhibition showcases for the first time, the extent of Sidney Nolan’s experiments with the Paintbox and presents work by artists including David Hockey, Richard Hamilton and Larry Rivers who played an important part in the use of this emerging art form.