Philippe Leblanc
My work reflects my joint vision as both an architect and an artist, as well as my love for geometrical abstraction.
Mathematics is a constant source of inspiration, but not a goal per se. The aesthetic and playful aspects of my artwork are always the final criteria.
Lately I have been inspired by famous irrational numbers as Phi, Pi or square root of 2, which cost so much work to generations of mathematicians. As a tribute to their discoveries and calculations, I imagined representations of the decimals of these numbers in 2D colored puzzles or 3D architectural models.
The Square Root of 2 Puzzle is a geometric representation of the irrational number √2, the length of the diagonal of a 1 by 1 square. It consists of a central square surrounded by nine square “rings” of equal width, divided into odd numbers of pieces. The first ring is divided into three pieces, the next one into five, etc. Considering the central square, there are a total of 100 pieces of 6 different shapes covering the same surface each. The central piece represents the number one, while the remaining 99 pieces stand for the first 99 decimals of number √2. A color is assigned to each digit (from yellow for 1 to light blue for 0, going through red). The reading direction starts from the center square to the right and then clockwise.