Inc. Tessellation / Fractals / Chaos / Order

Core Influences

• Agnes Martin

• Jeffery Steele

• Sarah Morris

• Valerie Jaudon

• Katrina Blannin

• Mary Martin

• Hilma Af Klint

• Sonia Delaunay

• Anni Albers

• Josef Albers

• Frantisek Kupka

• Ad Reinhardt

• Gunta Stolzl

• Emma Lindstrom

• Deanna Musgrave

• Orphism

• Euclidean Geometry

 

Geometry is an integral part of my work and has been used by many artists before me in many different ways. Sonia Delaunay, 'the woman who made colour dance' [according to The Guardian], used geometry as a major component of her work. Sonia Delaunay was the main protagonist [along with Robert Delaunay] of the Orphism movement. Her use of contrasting colours and smooth transitions between forms is structured by geometry and she was not the only one to do this. Sarah Morris, Katrina Blannin, Anni Albers and Hilma af Klint all use strong colours controlled by geometric forms. In using the geometric patterns the works also take on a tessellation aspect.

 

However a more chaotic side to the controlled order is the work of Frantisek Kupka. Still a main proponent of Orphism, he uses a much more chaotic approach when geometry is involved. His colours intermingle and the harsh line, so used before now, is blurred. Possibly to do with his passion for freeing colours of their associations, by blending them so you do not know which is which. Gunta Stölzl also has a similar style although hers is by make of weaving and textiles, much freer than Anni Albers.

 

N.B. Chaos theory is the field of study in mathematics that studies the behaviour and condition of dynamical systems that are highly sensitive to initial conditions—a response popularly referred to as the butterfly effect. [In mathematics, a dynamical system is a system in which a function describes the time dependence of a point in a geometrical space.]

 

With my work now moving from away from geometry, I have been looking at 'chaos'. For me the natural opposite to order - geometry.  I was already looking at fractals as part of my work and the kaleidoscope and these both stem from Chaos Theory. From chaos theory I jumped into Nebulas as they had a chaotic-ness to them and I wanted something to inform the ornamentation on a working piece. This led me into thinking of the work as a landscape of space. So I started looking at nebulas - Carina, Lagoon, Tarantula… . These then informed the placement of materials.