{"id":5912,"date":"2018-01-10T23:19:09","date_gmt":"2018-01-11T04:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5912"},"modified":"2018-03-10T10:07:23","modified_gmt":"2018-03-10T15:07:23","slug":"the-sudden-coincidence-of-art-and-fractals-a-review-of-recent-artworks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5912","title":{"rendered":"The sudden coincidence of art and fractals: a review of recent artworks"},"content":{"rendered":"

~ Click on images to view full-size on original site ~<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

boxFoldp2V3 eee2<\/em> by mclarekin (Fractalforums)<\/p><\/div>\n

I’d given up blogging about fractal art and the sight of this image reinspired me.\u00a0 It was the art, not the fractals.\u00a0 It’s all geometry and nothing but geometry and yet there’s nothing square about it.\u00a0 I don’t think mclarekin was trying to make anything great or revive my jaded sensibilities, so here is a fine example of what I love about fractal art: we often don’t know what we’ve captured.\u00a0 We’re just as capable of underestimating its value as overestimating it.\u00a0 “Making” fractal art is the first step in discovering it.\u00a0 That’s how it works.\u00a0 There are no artists.\u00a0 Artists are the first members of the audience.<\/p>\n

Everything in this image is working and active.\u00a0 The whole thing’s alive.\u00a0 It’s a symphony of color, shape and pattern.\u00a0 There is nothing real and yet there is nothing abstract either.\u00a0 Fractals are the twilight zone of art.<\/p>\n

This next one is a little harder to explain…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

(MB3D) ABox M-set Image Thread 4<\/em> by Anon (Fractalforums)<\/p><\/div>\n

You’ve heard of Magic Realism<\/em> in literature?\u00a0 This is magic archeology.\u00a0 The top one is a rare gold crown from the Incas which magically reassembles itself in a way which science has been unable to explain.\u00a0 Note the teeth in the little faces which represent the gods that were believed to consume the sacrificial victims.\u00a0 The bottom image looks like a tomb containing gold objects but is really a natural metallic crystalline growth that is hundreds of millions of years old and discovered in a silver mine.\u00a0\u00a0 Like I said, in fractal art not even the artist realizes what they’ve found.\u00a0 It has to be taken to an expert who can properly assess its value and identify its origin.<\/p>\n

We now leave Kansas and arrive in Oz…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dmap Rr558<\/em> by blenqui (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

If I told you that this was a computer generated visualization of the standing wave structure of a hybridized Uranium 238 atom, would you be more interested or less?\u00a0 This is what blenqui has created, although, like the others above, the artist is not fully aware of that yet.\u00a0 Blenqui is one of the very few original artists in the fractal world.\u00a0 If you don’t like his work, or at least find his work interesting, then you don’t really like fractal art, you only like fractals.<\/p>\n

There a regions, states, phases and cross-sections to this image.\u00a0 One travels and studies it; climbs and accesses it.\u00a0 To speak of “appreciation” and “viewing” is to have seen it only in a postcard.\u00a0 It’s an experience and you should have the expression and heart rate of someone who’s just gotten off a roller coaster when you speak of it, if you were really there yourself.<\/p>\n

Here’s another…<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dmap nu216<\/em> by blenqui (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

Hmmn… it actually resembles one of those stand-up spinning rides that press you\u00a0 against the outside wall with centrifugal force in which you can lift up your legs and not fall down.\u00a0 The creativity in fractal art is self-propagating.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Note the fancy monochome world on the “tread of the tire” and compare it with the cellular cross-section style\u00a0 of imagery on the “sidewalls”.\u00a0 The color is retro and I believe the original upload image was a png (this is a jpeg) and it’s quite appropriate for the display of such high contrast imagery.\u00a0 Of course, the two sets of imagery are created by the same, single structure which is merely displayed in two different planes (horizontal, vertical) and yet one plane gives birth to a nighttime scene of a desolate lake surrounded by glowing white trees while the other resembles a biology diagram of a hollow stemmed plant with large xylem tubes surrounded by smaller, phloem tubes.\u00a0 How could anyone fully realize what this was when it was first picked up off the virtual ground?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Of Yonder<\/em> by Platinus (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

You really need to click on this one and view it full-size.\u00a0 It’s surreal.\u00a0 The empty horizons and the convoluted worm hole stairwells in the “hills”.\u00a0 The Underworlds are everywhere.\u00a0 Not a single curved line that I can see and yet it’s a natural landscape.\u00a0 Could even be Kansas on a surreal day.\u00a0 Simple geometry but complex effect.\u00a0 Sounds very fractal.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

MyRohypnol<\/em> by Wajakaa (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

I’m guessing this was made with Fractal Explorer or some other program of similar vintage.\u00a0 One of the biggest mistakes in computer art is equating technological progress and development with better art.\u00a0 More advanced fractal software simply makes more advance fractal graphics not necessarily more advanced art.\u00a0 The wild comic book imagery of Wajakaa’s image here is a good example of that.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

The lower regions by the memory<\/em> by Wajakaa (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

Another visual amusement park ride.\u00a0 The interplay between the overlapping patterns in these one-layer programs is often more sophisticated and more tasteful than the deliberate layering in multi-layered programs.\u00a0 Fractal artists shouldn’t have too much say over what the image looks like.\u00a0 Imagine how dull and predictable most natural landscapes would look if designed by a nature photographer.\u00a0 In programs like Sterling or Tierazon, one can get lost for hours in these gritty and intense regions or crash scenes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Thurfis<\/em> by OttoMagusDigitalArt<\/p><\/div>\n

How do we know this is “fractal”?\u00a0 Or how about this question: How do we know this is “art”?\u00a0 It’s easier to answer the art question.\u00a0 Why is that?\u00a0 Is it because “fractal” is actually a meaningless term?\u00a0 Art on the other hand is a quality or attribute of the image and independent of the technical origins or pedigree of the imagery that forms it.<\/p>\n

The colors are exquisite and the shapes multiply the effect.\u00a0 Note the shadowing and how it accentuates the colored forms.\u00a0 Made with Ultrafractal and possibly a rebuttal to my comment that multi-layering is usually second-rate to the mechanical single-layer processes.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Hexenfruit Stew<\/em> by OttoMagusDigitalArt (DeviantArt)<\/p><\/div>\n

This one really\u00a0 needs to be viewed full-size to get the subtle texture effect.\u00a0 I want to retitle this one: Thoughts Found in Ice.\u00a0 <\/em>Very creative use of realistic as well as abstract rendering effects.\u00a0 Layering can easily produce that sort of hybridized style.\u00a0 In fact, layering is almost a whole new creative process in which fractal formula renderings are just the raw material.\u00a0 Does this image fit with anyone’s idea of fractal art?\u00a0 It’s great to see something new and different and this is also good as well.<\/p>\n

Here’s something much older:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’d given up blogging about fractal art and the sight of this image reinspired me. It was the art, not the fractals. It’s all geometry and nothing but geometry and yet there’s nothing square about it. Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5914,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_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":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5912","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\/2018\/01\/boxFoldp2V3-eee2-by-mclarekin-Fractalforums.jpeg?fit=500%2C375&ssl=1","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2875,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2875","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":0},"title":"Rebooting Fractal Art: Part 5","author":"Tim","date":"15 August, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"The future of fractal art Well, bluntly stated, there is no future in fractal art.\u00a0 At least not in the kind of fractal art that most artists are making today.\u00a0 That's the stuff I called Parameter Art in my last posting, Part 4.\u00a0 What we've all seen is what we're\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 4 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 4 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=2875#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5485,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5485","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":1},"title":"Let’s face it: Fractal Art really is a Computer Science Club","author":"Tim","date":"17 September, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Fractal art got the boot a long time ago... Let me start with an interesting quote from the (archived) Wikipedia talk page: This article should probably be merged with fractal.\u2014Eloquence 17:12, Dec 23, 2003 (UTC) It's the very first comment on Fractal Art's Wikipedia page.\u00a0 I love the irony of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","block_context":{"text":"With 1 comment","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5485#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"two","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/09\/two.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":348,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=348","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":2},"title":"Stone-Cold Fractals \u2013 An introduction to the lapidary arts from a fractal perspective","author":"Tim","date":"14 October, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"(Editorial Note: This is our first Guest Posting. Orbit Trap welcomes submissions for Guest Postings from anyone on any fractal related topic. Publication is not guaranteed and is solely at the discretion of the editors. If you feel you are in a position to offer some special insight on a\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3632,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3632","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":3},"title":"Phase 3: The Relentless Pursuit of Color, Shape and Pattern","author":"Tim","date":"20 December, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"We've all watched or taken part in, at sometime or another, that great quest to \"define\" fractal art.\u00a0 Although few members of the fractal world seem very interested in this sort of \"constitutional debate\" everyone operates with at least some sort of understanding of a boundary around fractal art.\u00a0 The\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 5 comments","block_context":{"text":"With 5 comments","link":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=3632#comments"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/pollock01.jpg?fit=460%2C362&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5672,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5672","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":4},"title":"Everything you need to know about Fractals and Art in one blog post","author":"Tim","date":"11 August, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Fractals are many things to many people but as an art form they're really very simple:\u00a0 Fractals are a visual medium. Do not be fooled by such simple language and such a simple statement,\u00a0 \"medium\" is the thin edge of the wedge that splits fractal art apart and reveals all\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/08\/322px-Mandel_zoom_00_mandelbrot_set.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5613,"url":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/?p=5613","url_meta":{"origin":5912,"position":5},"title":"Why can’t fractals do what art does?","author":"Tim","date":"2 June, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Over the years I've come to see this as the perennial problem in fractal art. Naturally there are many other perspectives regarding the \"art-worthiness\" of fractals, among which the most common seems to be that they're essentially no different than any other medium that artists work with. But this doesn't\u2026","rel":"","context":"Similar post","block_context":{"text":"Similar post","link":""},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/orbittrap.ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/freak07.jpg?fit=500%2C375&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5912"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5940,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5912\/revisions\/5940"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/5914"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/orbittrap.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}