Art through Technology: Tempt and the Eyewriter

By Mollie Cohen

When legendary graffiti artist Tony Quan was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (more commonly known as Lou Gehrig's disease) he thought his career as an artist was completely over.

This artist, also known as Tempt, faced complete body paralysis in his hospital bed. His confinement to his bed as well as his loss of ability to paint and draw left him what he would later describe to a reporter as a “sense of total emptiness."

This was until the members of Free Art and Technology, OpenFrameworks, the Graffiti Research Lab, and the Ebeling Group communities teamed up to create an open-source eye-tracking device that would allow Tempt to draw using only his eyes.

When asked how he feels about being able to draw again Tempt replied, “I can't even begin to describe how good it feels to be able to rock styles again, and through my art I've been able to raise awareness about my disease.”

The eyewriter is surprisingly simple technology and can be made in about a days time with under fifty dollars invested in the project. The Eyewriter community has put together a prototype and given easy access to instructions for many people to build their own eyewriters.

The software itself is less complicated than one might think and it works with the Eyewriter as well as commercial eye-trackers such as MyTobii. The software is made specifically for graffiti taggers, namely Tempt, who has since the invention of the Eyewriter been able to participate in galleries internationally.

He puts all profits he receives from any gallery into the TEMPTONE ALS FOUNDATION a non-profit organization dedicated to helping people who suffer from Lou Gehrig's disease as well.

Tempt himself says that, “Art is a tool of empowerment and social change, and I consider myself blessed to be able to create and use my work to promote health reform, bring awareness to ALS, and be able to help others.”

His name, which was legendary before, has come to know new heights and his graffiti tags have been replicated by robots, people, and paint ball machines. His story brings hope to those who suffer from disease. Now, sitting in his hospital bed he can still pursue his two true loves: art and social activism.