Christopher Hanusa

Professor of Mathematics
Queens College of the City University of New York
Queens, New York, USA

I use computational software to design images and sculpture inspired by the inherent beauty of mathematics. I am inspired by mathematical concepts, research topics, and found math. When I create art I work to understand the underlying theory, implementing it through algorithms, and honing the aesthetics to appeal to and reach a greater population.

I ask: How can I develop an algorithm to expand the seed of an idea into a general phenomenon? How can I take a concept from the two-dimensional world and represent it faithfully in three dimensions? What is the artistic relationship between randomness and deliberation?

Intersections
Intersections
32 x 32 cm
Digital Image on Watercolor Paper
2020

In Intersections we investigate the deterioration of a simple cube. The cube is whittled away in five different (and color-coded) ways – sliced through with leaves of paper (green), rounded into a sphere (blue), bored through with holes (purple), chiseled with triangular grooves (pink), and honed into six cones (yellow). These methods of degradation then interact in every possible way, with the results laid out in a five-region Venn diagram. Choose any two (or more!) of the regions and you’ll see what happens when that group of actions are applied simultaneously.