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From Art and Mathematics
SUNY, Albany, 1993

 

 

 

The largest portion of my oeuvre is the work devoted to topological transformations of either a disc or torus that was done intermittently from 1975 to 1992. As art styles have waxed and waned these forms have been interpreted variously as minimalist, procedural, systemic, structuralist or geometric. As limited descriptions I accept any of these even though from my point of view the work is expressive, intuitive, empirical and experimental. As the examples accumulated it was possible to re-assemble, analyse and structure the complete collection into a conceivable whole with defineable sets and subsets. In the whole, while all aspects of symmetry are encompassed, it is the sprial that is both procedurally and metaphorically paramount. This is because it is, in fact, the form via which shapes --not only in my art but in most aspects of the material universe -- evolve and grow.

Inititally I found an infinite variety of biomorphic shapes that recalled human and animal forms. These were developed principally by topological manipulation of a yin-yang subdivision of paired discs. Subsequently the idea behind these forms was refined by work on distorted tori and a body of work emerged that was increasingly differentiated, delicate and "life like" -- as in "Life Sculpture" illustrated right and "God's Games" from 1985-9 (not shown).

The work on the tori usually proceeded by joining several tori into a spiral string and then manipulating the match with a mirror image. Shifting one edge of one string in relation to its mirror image precipitiously projected the resultant form into space. The "pitch", "excursion" and "direction" of these shapes is dependent upon the amount of manipultion or "shift". The exact effect of "shift" is due to the relationship between the width of torus and the diameter of its disc. The most interesing of these forms were: those developed with asyymetrical tori -- see Red Plume; those in which a "progressive transformation" was induced by making one string fractionally narrower than the other -- seeAntioch Graces"; or those in which a sprial was cut into the originating discs (Gaudi series, '89-91, not illustrated).

In retrospect the principal result of the work was to give me a personal language or method -- an abstract system, a theory, a sculptural geometry -- with which to interpret the new insights of others, and express my joy and appreciation of the intricacy and beauty inherent in nature's forms and procedures.

 

Detail Spermatazoon from "Life Scultpure" 1984. Resin over vinyl. c.14'x4'x4'.

From "Life Sculpture" 1984. Resin over vinyl. c.10'x3'x3'.
 
Antioch's Three Graces 1962. Acrylic on vinyl. 40' x variously.
 
Red Plume 1984. Acrylic on canvas and vinyl. c 10'x4'x4'.
 

 

 

 

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