Robert Mallary (1917–1997) transformed discarded urban materials—cardboard, fabric, sand, wood and other debris—into rugged assemblage sculptures bound with resin and plastics. Associated with Neo-Dada and “junk art,” Mallary later became a pioneer of computer art, creating Quad 1 (1968), one of the earliest sculptures designed through computer-generated modeling. Mallary studied art in Mexico City, including at the Academia de San Carlos, and worked with Mexican muralist José Clemente Orozco. In the late 1940s, while working in commercial art at Rexall Drug Company in Los Angeles, he met Wayne Thiebaud and became an important early mentor. Thiebaud later credited Mallary with giving him his “first real critical sense,” describing him as one of the finest analytical minds he had encountered. An influential artist and educator, Mallary taught at Pratt Institute and the University of Massachusetts Amherst and was a visiting professor at UC Davis in 1963 and 1967.