Etienne Saint-Amant

Artist
Chaoscopia
Sherbrooke, Québec, Canada

For me, chaos is the total causality of deterministic events. It is important to not only see the instability and disorder of chaos but to see its real power as a fundamental, creative and evolutionary force. My artistic vision is strongly influenced by this view.

I use paradoxes and juxtapositions to sensitize the viewer to a certain event or a certain idea. Throughout my work, attention to composition on different scales invites us to first casually glance at, and then more minutely scrutinize details that are revealed gradually as we come closer to the work. I wish to submerge viewers into a dense and rich work, creating a strong atmosphere.

Being Master of Sciences, I am profoundly interested in mathematics. I create my style, techniques and tools guided by scientific principles all throughout the process. It’s with these tools and this knowledge that mathematics spring to life and become matters and pigments.

The Key
The Key
18 x 36 in
Pigmented inks on professional paper, museum-grade non-glare acrylic and Dibond aluminium
2012

This artwork is a theatrical seascape of vibrant colors, abstract elements and lights in reflectance. It is entirely described by a mathematical system.

It is composed by many complex planes overlaying each others. The sky is described by variations of the fractional Brownian motion. The water reflectance is made from a chain of several transformations (mapping). I'm using precisely controlled and modified fractal geometry in various areas of the artwork. I'm also using masks to interlace geometries among the planes to create perspective and a more realistic feeling.

WABE: Broken Perspective
WABE: Broken Perspective
22 x 36 in
Pigmented inks on professional paper, museum-grade non-glare acrylic and Dibond aluminium
2012

This artwork is a theatrical cityscape. It is called Broken Perspective because of the impossible angle of view and the fact that the city looks labyrinthic.

It is composed by many complex planes overlaying each others. The sky is described by variations of the fractional Brownian motion. The airplane is constructed from fractal geometry. The city is a 3D trompe-l'oeil made from my own variation of Hilbert curves (which is really 2D). I'm also using masks to interlace geometries among the planes to create perspective and a more realistic feeling.