| TITLE: | Crystal Method |
| DATE: | January 2007 |
| SIZE: | 40''x28'' (101cm x 71cm) |
| MATERIALS: | Blackboard paint, chalk, acrylic paint, acrylic glaze on canvas |
The bottom half is a mathematical summary of crystallographic reflection groups; here, "group" has a specific meaning in mathematics: it measures how symmetrical something is. So, objects which are more symmetrical have "bigger" groups associated with them. The groups for crystalline structures generated by finitely many reflections have a particularly neat method of classification by the chalk diagrams, which are called Dynkin diagrams. The top half represents crystals, using the randomness of poured paint on canvas to mimick the growth pattern of dendrites. By tipping the rigid canvas, every point on its surface experiences the same forces due to gravity, and so all the drips move in near-parallel courses. Drips that haven't completely dried are also slightly affected by tipping and shaking the canvas, and so the amount of de-correlation between the crystals can be controlled in both their spacial and temporal separation.
| TITLE: | The Sun Will Kill You |
| DATE: | January 2007 |
| SIZE: | 40''x28'' (101cm x 71cm) |
| MATERIALS: | Blackboard paint, acrylic on canvas |
This has dark intentions. The interior of the sun is soft and nurturing; the route to the top (heaven?) could be a placenta possibly. But the outside of the circular sun is chaotic, and reaches down to a sequence of numbers from pi (π) containing six "9"'s, which becomes six "6"'s upside-down, representing the devil twice over. The backwards numerals represent corruption of the soul.
| TITLE: | Primitive Operation |
| DATE: | January 2007 |
| SIZE: | 40''x28'' (101cm x 71cm) |
| MATERIALS: | Blackboard paint, acrylic on canvas |
This is about primality. In the top panel, drips of paint run upwards to the top edge. The only colours used are the three (subtractive) primary colours: cyan, magenta and yellow. The colours randomly coalesce and self-mix to form secondary and tertiary composite colours. In the bottom panel, the Sieve of Eratosthenes is used to calculate the prime numbers between 1 and 99. All positive integers can be factorized into their underlying prime numbers; all colours can be broken down into primary colours. The mixing of the colours is the multiplication of the prime numbers.
As the colours mix they become darker and less saturated, so the middle of the painting comes forward and the top recedes. From a distance it looks like tall buildings in the distance, with psychedelic multicoloured rain pouring straight down.