{"id":134,"date":"2007-01-15T17:19:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-15T21:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=134"},"modified":"2007-01-15T17:19:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-15T21:19:00","slug":"fractals-dont-look-like-anything","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":""Fractals Don’t Look Like Anything""},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\"Alien<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Alien Supplicant (2007) <\/em><\/p>\n

I go on a quaternion<\/a> fractal kick for a few weeks almost every year. There’s something very special about these sculpted, rolled in Play-Doh<\/a>, Tootsie Roll forms. I find them fascinating because they seem more tactile<\/a> and three-dimensional than most other kinds of fractals. They can also be more visually evocative. Maybe that’s because they occasionally break the restraints of abstraction<\/a>. Moreover, they sometimes share important traits with literary works: tone and mood<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Out<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Out for the Season (2003) <\/em><\/p>\n

Because fractals are generally so highly abstract, generating a mood along with an image can be an added plus. And while it’s true that other kinds of fractals, like L-System<\/a> forms, can produce life-imitating shapes like ferns and branches, quaternions sometimes bear a resemblance to more complex living things. But these imitations, perhaps because of the 3-D nature of the forms, are far from flat planes or “stick figures<\/a>.” Rather, they can contain a powerful, emotionally-charged resonance. <\/p>\n

\"Grieving\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Grieving (2002) <\/em><\/p>\n

I’m sure none of this surprises many of you. We see ourselves in fractals all the time. It’s not uncommon to find faces<\/a> peering out from the tiled nooks and accidental recesses of our images. I still remember the first time I stumbled into the main page at Bill Rossi’s Fractopia and saw him and his fractal family<\/a>. And some fractal artists have produced stunning self-portraits — like these by Jurgen Schwietering<\/a> and Damien M. Jones<\/a>. I’ve even made a few fractal replicas of myself — like this one<\/a> that Stan Hood<\/a> once told me “looks like I’ve seen the movie The Fly<\/a><\/em> one too many times.” <\/p>\n

\"Beyonce\"<\/a> <\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Beyonce (2004) <\/em><\/p>\n

I guess it’s the semi-anthropomorphic<\/a>, I-recognize-that features of quaternions that fascinate me. Maybe the image above doesn’t suggest the pop diva<\/a> of Dreamgirls<\/em> to you — but I see her languid body and graceful movements on display. Over the years, I’ve seen so many curious things<\/a> cooking away on my computer: ravens<\/a>, dictators<\/a>, male models<\/a>, meter maids<\/a>. So, don’t let anyone tell you — as a painter recently said to me — that “fractals don’t look like anything.” Quat nonsense<\/em>.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

Terry<\/p>\n

Rooms with a View
<\/a>Blog with a View<\/a> <\/p>\n

All images were made in QuaSZ<\/a> and mildly post-processed in Photoshop and other graphics programs.<\/p>\n

~\/~<\/p>\n

Technorati Tags:<\/strong> photoblog<\/a>, fractal<\/a>, fractal art<\/a>, digital art<\/a>, art<\/a>, quaternion<\/a>, quasz<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Alien Supplicant (2007) I go on a quaternion fractal kick for a few weeks almost every year. There’s something very special about these sculpted, rolled in Play-Doh, Tootsie Roll forms. I find them fascinating because they seem more tactile and three-dimensional than most other kinds of fractals. They can also be more visually evocative. Maybe … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":3272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-134","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2007\/01\/beyonce_BV.jpg?fit=450%2C600&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":318,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=318","url_meta":{"origin":134,"position":0},"title":"Fuzzy Times in Fractalville","author":"Tim","date":"12 June, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"My apologies to jamfancy, Funny Bunny and tibiloo, but I found this online vignette was just too precious not to share it with the loyal, die-hard, though thick and thin, grassroots supporters of Orbit Trap -- the greatest thing since sliced Mandelbrot. (That's a joke on the German word for\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2848,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2848","url_meta":{"origin":134,"position":1},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 3","author":"Tim","date":"4 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"What fractals fail to do... You can't make art with them.\u00a0 And we all need our heads examined for thinking we could in the first place. 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In fact, fractals are probably\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3009#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/09\/Zon9.jpg?fit=500%2C500&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":4552,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4552","url_meta":{"origin":134,"position":4},"title":"3D Printing: Will this be Fractal Art’s Big Break?","author":"Tim","date":"7 March, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"With 3D printing technology, fractal art can cheaply and easily enter the domain of sculpture.\u00a0 It's an exciting development and offers the ever dazzling world of fractals another venue in which to capture that proverbial and elusive, \"mainstream\" audience.\u00a0 Will this be fractal art's big break or just another demonstration\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=4552#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/674x501_897361_839458_1361914708.jpg?fit=447%2C494&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":267,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267","url_meta":{"origin":134,"position":5},"title":"Beware of the Anti-Fractal","author":"Tim","date":"26 January, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"I know this will probably crack some folks up at first, but bear with me as I tell you about something that came to mind just recently while browsing the big page of \"winners\" at the 2007 Benoit Mandelbrot Fractal Art Contest site.First, let me draw your attention to the\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 9 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 9 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=267#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}