Author: cruelanimal

I don’t want to hear about why art competitions should be run professionally using fair play to promote excellence and diversity rather than favoring a select group. I’d much rather be openly exploited and cynically…

Do the right thing. It will gratify some people and astonish the rest.–Mark Twain Image seen on afgc.org. I wanted to pop on briefly and second what Tim said in his last post. I’ve known…

Don’t you trust us? I am starting this post with a premise. Either the organizers and sponsors of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest know absolutely nothing about how to run an art contest, or…

What! Will these hands never be clean? It’s baaaaack. The Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest returns for 2009 with freshly scrubbed rules. Past co-director Damien M. Jones made the announcement last night on the Ultra…

Slimazoids Visit Gnarlinspike Badlands by Garth Thornton. Posted to Fractal-World. One of the hardest parts of my job is figuring out what other people will think is funny. You’d think that would be easy, but…

Jonah by Catenary Nicely named. Shows guts. Suitably claustrophobic. a006 by Alice Kelley With this ring I thee iterate. Communing with the Spirits by Philip Northover So much for your dingy afterlife! The Boyfriend by…

Does this fractal make me look infinitely fat? Detail of Fractal Nude Study by clifftoppler. Link contains nudity: here. I am doll eyes, doll mouth, doll legs… —Hole, “Doll Parts” I want a doll! I…

Don’t ask (because they) don’t tell. [Image seen here.] Where secrecy or mystery begins, vice or roguery is not far off.—Samuel Johnson What’s up in fractaldom lately? Who knows? It’s a secret. Let’s do a…

They love! They share! They share and love and share! Share, share, share! Love, love, love! [Image seen on FiveThirtyEight.] Somebody gets to be smart and somebody gets to be dumb. –Karl Rove Every now…

Fractalus: Too Big to Fail? [Photograph seen on guardian.co.uk] Have you been keeping up with fractal art current events? Let’s see… Speak, Damien Damien M. Jones, Fractalus overlord and co-director of the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal…

Mandelbrot, The Fractal Bear by Mouse So who knew fractals could be so cuddly. Or so tasty and crunchy. Tags: fractal, fractals, fractal art, fractal blog, mandelbrot the fractal bear, mouse, buttons for mouse, tickle…

Ultra Fractal: Bailed or Booted from its Home? [Photograph seen on Recession Profession.] Hmmm. Odd events are piling up. First, as I previously reported on Orbit Trap, every scrap of information pertaining to the Benoit…

Too much “good” fractal art is killing me. [Photogragraph seen on silive.com.] I liked Tim’s last post. I think he’s right. And I figured why not carry on this conversation a bit more. Maybe so-called…

And how long would you say have these alleged fractals been missing? [Image seen on self-delighting soul] I stumbled into a bit of a mystery this afternoon. What happened to the fractals displayed on the…

Scratch by Simon Kane (SimonKane) I’ve moaned plenty in the past about the fractal art areas of virtual art communities like Renderosity and deviantART. Sometimes, in such places, observing and discussing art becomes tangled with…

I and my superior aesthetics cough faintly in the face of your antiseptic algorithms. [Photograph by theveryquietroom] Tim, Maybe you’re right. It’s all about the math. Our art form traditionally privileges the scientific mind of…

If someone was to print out my images and see something more, or less, than is visible on the computer screen, I’d say stop looking at prints and stick to what you see on your…

No art, Sherlock… Tim, I really enjoyed your last post. I, too, have been thinking about the desire some fractal artists have to reveal more of their images in ever expansive detail. The methods fractal…

Snake Tree by Jim MuthFractal of the Day: 4-12-97 I’ll try to post a different image every day, until I make my point that complicated formulas are not necessary for new and unusual fractals. It…

Orbit Trap recently passed 100,000 hits. Tim and I would like thank all of our readers for your ongoing support (or lack thereof), and we both look forward to exploring fractal art “to its hiding…

And he’s not even joking. [Cover seen at Comic Coverage.] i can’t believe this is still an issue.–Michael Faber, comment on wedreamincolor If if [sic] means anything to anybody, the contract between the Publisher and…

How much further or at least self-similar? [Image seen on a-line skirt.] Hi kids. Time to pile into the OT station wagon and take that holiday trip out on the fractal art information highway. Let’s…

Milk Spill. High-speed photography by Michele M. Ferrario. It’s as though the creative process is no longer contained within an individual skull, if indeed it ever was. Everything, today, is to some extent the reflection…

****V**** is for Victory [Image initially seen at the Sun Gallery.] The best lack all conviction, while the worstare filled with passionate intensity.—William Butler Yeats, “The Second Coming” Fractalbook is Facebook on fractals. Fractalbook has…

Neurons [Microscopy by Dr. L. Blood] I pursued nature to her hiding place.–Mary Shelley, Frankenstein Many things previously called chaos are now known to follow subtle fractal laws of behavior. So many things turned out…

If you’re the fractal police, where is your software? Aaah, leave it to the cutting edge crowd over at Keith MacKay’s idreamincolor forum to ask the big questions and come up with the big-headed answers.…

Bee Pole by The Jafagirls No review this week. But will you settle for a meditation instead? If we assume that fractal art is indeed a legitimate fine art form — and I do —…

I find art is best contemplated while jogging… They say you learn something new every day. Today, I discovered it’s not easy to write a review of an exhibition I never actually attended. Then again,…

A Bride’s Night by FarDareisMai No more Starbucks for flower girls. Fractal Image 2766 by Jock Cooper Well built. Dual core. Intel Inside. The Sun is Playing by Elizabeth Mansco Heat index blues? Hit the…

A Goblet Emptied by clifftoppler As I predicted, the boundaries of what is and what is not fractal art would have to be reshuffled once the Fractalbookers shelled out for Ultra Fractal 5. I said…

[Photograph seen on Memory and Desire.] The “jury” is still out as to whether the Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest will be held again this year, so we don’t yet know whether its judges will…

Evolving by Maria K. Lemming Lines. Motion. Color. Perspective. Whimsey. Wonderful. X09202 by Joseph Presley Whose woods these are? Don’t ask! Undone by Joel Faber Let’s see my brother top this. Calla Lily by Susan…

I thought I’d try writing a post, in a straight-forward and non-sarcastic manner, that tries to clarify my concerns about Ultra Fractal 5. Here goes. I believe UF5 has brought fractal art to a critical…

I’ve had a little more time now to reflect on the implications of the digital image import features added to Ultra “Fractal” 5, so I hope I can clarify some of my initial observations. I’d…

Moment in Blue by Paul DeCelle Right now I’m having deja vu and amnesia at the same time.—Steven Wright Regular OT readers, at least those who haven’t burned out their memory circuits with illegal substances…

I’ve been experiencing hot flashes around the ears lately. I think a round-up of the latest buzz reactions to Orbit Trap might be in order. Let’s start with Keith MacKay’s most recent exercise in pouting:…