David Em

David Em
David Em presenting "The Shape of the Universe" 2011
Born	1952 Los Angeles, California, USA
Nationality	American
Education	Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts American Film Institute
Known for	Digital art

David Em (born 1952) is an American computer artist.

David Em was born in Los Angeles and grew up in South America. He studied painting at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and film directing at the American Film Institute.

Em created digital paintings at the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (Xerox PARC) in 1975 with SuperPaint, "the first complete digital paint system". In 1976, he made an articulated 3D digital insect at Information International, Inc. (III) that could walk, jump, and fly, the first 3D character created by a fine artist.

With his 1977 art work Aku, Em became the first artist to produce a navigable virtual world at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), where he was Artist in Residence from 1977 to 1984. He also created digital art at the California Institute of Technology (1985 – 1988), and Apple Computer (1991). Em has worked independently since the early nineties.

David Em, QED, 1998, Digital Image.

Em's art spans multiple media, including virtual worlds, filmmaking, printmaking, and photography. He has also worked with live performance and theater. Most of his creations exist outside of the mainstream art world.

Stylistically, Em's art has connections to Surrealism, abstract painting, and experimental film. Some pieces feature geometric components, others are organic in nature.