Anita Chowdry
The techniques I use in my paintings are based on my research into the
methods and materials of painting and illuminating in Indian and
Persian manuscripts. The precision of these techniques works well with
mathematically conceived contemporary work, enabling finely defined
linear work and highly rendered areas of colour.
I am interested in exploring the aesthetic and philosophical
possibilities geometry, finding ways of combining classical forms that
structured Islamic geometry with the intriguing organic shapes
generated by different types of fractal geometry.
I use mathematics as the primary inspiration in my work because of its
inherent beauty and its challenge to make sense of and express what is
beyond our normal sensory and emotional equipment.
The original painting is created in two layers: the top layer is painted on paper with watercolours and hand-made malachite, pure gold and silver pigments, cut, and placed on a background of gold-flecked indigo dyed paper. A freehand Heighway dragon curve (with acknowledgement to Joel Castellanos' web-based "Fractal Grower") grows out of a Fibonacci spiral which curls in the background into an Archemedian spiral with Arabesques. The cut-out shapes pay homage to the artistic efforts of the many anonymous silverfish who have modified pages of historic manuscripts!