For everyone who's been told pen plotter is not real art.
If you make art with a pen plotter, you've probably heard all of it. "The machine does everything." "But did you actually paint it?" "Is this AI?" "Is this printed?" It gets to you after a while. You start feeling like you don't quite belong in the art world, even though you spend hundreds of hours on code, on testing pens, on ruining canvases and try again.
Two years ago I had the chance to be selected at Comparaison, a fine art fair that's been running since 1954 as part of Art Capital at the Grand Palais in Paris. 610 artists, 38 groups organized by artistic movement. I'm in the Constructivism group, led by Hernan Jara. Painters, sculptors, digital artists, and me with my pen plotted canvas.
Walking in the first time, I felt like I had to justify being there. By day two I realized most of the artist do not cared what tool I used. They cared about why. Every conversation came back to intention. Not "how did you make this" but "what are you trying to say." Some people loved my work, some didn't. Some gave me feedback I completely disagreed with. Some made me rethink things I thought I had figured out. That's the whole point. This was my second edition and I came back home completely rebooted.
So below I'm giving a little shoutout to the artists I loved talking with and what their pieces made me feel.
Hernan Jara leads the Constructivism group and his own work sets the tone. Deeply geometric yet somehow familiar.
Jean-Claude Atzori. There's something happening in his work between space and letterforms. You're not sure if you're looking at architecture or reading something. I kept coming back to his wall.
Rebecca Chou. We talk every year and I look forward to it every time. Her work is the thing I can't stop thinking about though. She uses the simplest shapes and makes them hit harder than anything. I spend my time filling canvases with dense, complex patterns trying to say something, and Rebecca says it with four rectangles.
Claire De Chavagnac. The colors got me. Pastels, geometry, but nothing is perfectly clean. The shapes are slightly off, slightly human, and that's exactly what makes the whole thing land. Perfect would have been boring. This was alive.
Michel Delaunay. One of those people you meet and instantly click with. We talked for ages. His work has this real volume to it I love.
Philippe Gourdon. A digital installation playing with shape and projected light. Go see it in the evening when the room gets darker. Completely different piece.
Wilmer Herrison. His technique gives the surface a depth that doesn't make sense when you're standing in front of it. Layers on layers, pulling you in. I still don't fully understand how he does it.
Liliana ITURRIAGA. Huge piece. Confrontational. Some kind of moiré effect that makes the whole surface move when you move. You physically can't stay still in front of it, which I think is the point.
Go Segawa. Tiny sculpture. Layers of transparent threads stacked to create a 3D effect that stopped everyone walking by. People were genuinely confused. The smallest piece in the group and it drew the biggest crowd.
Now here's my piece. It's called Plasma Churn, inspired by solar plasma activity. I wanted to capture that constant turbulence on the surface of the sun, those massive flows of energy that never settle.
I'd love to hear what you think. Tell me what you see, what works, what doesn't like if we whre at comparaison.
If you make plotter art and sometimes wonder where you fit, find your people. Show up. Put your work on a wall next to painters, sculptors, digital artists, and have the conversations. It changes everything.
Posted Apr 5, 2026, 3:14 PM UTC