Richard Hooper
My research interest is in the application of CAD/CAM methodologies to
sculptural form.
My work is abstract, geometric and minimalist. I am interested in
Platonistic Idealism and the notion of the sublime and the
relationship between mathematics and art. I am also interested in the
changing notion of the sculptor in (or out of) the studio and the
implication for that of digital and sculptural practice.
The submission is a sculpture based on three conjoined forms
derived from variations of the Versica Piscis lens shape.
Where the classical Versica Piscis has two equal circles such that
the centre of each circle lies on the circumference of the other,
those in the submitted piece are spaced such that the height of
the major axis of the modified Versica Piscis lens is equal to
half the height of the conventional Versica Piscis (giving a
smaller and slimmer lens shape). This shape is then bisected and
rotated through 360 degrees to create a solid ('American Football'
shaped) torpedo.
The forms are then obliquely truncated at both ends by two
mirrored planes set at thirty degrees to the major axis and
intersecting at a point halfway along the radius (set at ninety
degrees to the major axis) of a circle circumscribing the modified
Versica Piscis lens shape.
The truncated faces of the three forms are then mated in CAD to
construct the solid three dimensional abstract form submitted.