Aces of ANSI Art (abbreviated as ) was the first group of artists specifically organized for the purposes of creating and distributing

ANSI art The American National Standards Institute (ANSI ) is a private non-profit organization that oversees the development of voluntary consensus standards for products, services, processes, systems, and personnel in the United States. The organi ...

. The group was founded and operated by two BBS enthusiasts from California, "Zyphril" and "Chips Ahoy", from 1989 through 1991.

History

The group was initially formed in 1989 during the

BBS BBS may refer to: Ammunition * BBs, BB gun metal bullets * BBs, airsoft gun plastic pellets Computing and gaming * Bulletin board system, a computer server users dial into via dial-up or telnet; precursor to the Internet * BIOS Boot Specificat ...

era, but soon after the group's founding, ANSI art groups took on a life of their own, growing increasingly popular and spawning what would come to be known as the "

artscene The computer art scene, or simply artscene, is the community interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork. Early computer art The history of computer art predates the computer art scene for several decades, with the first expe ...

." ANSI art, which initially began as a method for bulletin board sysops to draw users to their boards, but with the emergence of organized groups, the artscene became associated with "underground" culture, such as

warez Warez is a common computing and broader cultural term referring to pirated software (i.e. illegally copied, often after deactivation of anti-piracy measures) that is distributed via the Internet. Warez is used most commonly as a noun, a plural ...

boards. In 1990, a schism occurred when a small but influential group of members left the group to form

ACiD Productions ACiD Productions (ACiD) is a digital art group. Founded in 1990, the group originally specialized in ANSI artwork for BBSes. More recently, they have extended their reach into other graphical media and computer software development. During the BB ...

. ACiD (ANSI Creators In Demand) grew to become the first ''international'' artscene group.

Membership

* Chips Ahoy (Founder) * Zyphril (Founder) *

RaD Man __NOTOC__ Christian Wirth (born in the 1970s), better known by the pseudonym RaD Man, is an American computer artist and historian. He works in the field of ANSI art, a method of creating art using a limited set of Code page 437, text characters ...

(Senior member) * Mondoman * The Beholder * Icepirate

References

External links

Examples of ANSI Artwork

Aces of ANSI Art Classics
a YouTube video featuring Animations from 1991 by Members of the AAA
artscene.textfiles.com
The artscene branch of the

textfiles.com textfiles.com is a website dedicated to preserving the digital documents that contain the history of the bulletin board system (BBS) world and various subcultures, and thus providing "a glimpse into the history of writers and artists bound by th ...

library.
darkdomain.org
''Dark Domain (2004)''. An archive on DVD which hosts a complete collection of underground artscene works between 1987 and 2003.
Roy/SAC Text Artist
Superior Art Creations, Information about ASCII Art Styles, SAC Art Packs Download
Sixteen Colors ANSI Art and ASCII Art Archive
- A web viewable archive of current and past ANSI and ASCII packs released by the

computer art scene The computer art scene, or simply artscene, is the community interested and active in the creation of computer-based artwork. Early computer art The history of computer art predates the computer art scene for several decades, with the first expe ...

More on the History of the Art Scene

BBS: The Documentary
Episode 5 documents the rise of the Art Scene

Releases

Aces of ANSI Art Remembrance Pack
- An archive of ANSI artwork created by various members of the group between 1989 and 1991. {{DEFAULTSORT:Aces of ANSI Art 1989 establishments in the United States Artscene groups ASCII art Bulletin board systems Demogroups