Petronio Bendito

Associate Professor of Art and Design
Purdue University
West Lafayette, Indiana, USA

I develop algorithmic methods to produce color palettes for RGB and CMYK outputs through my Computational Color Design research projects. For the “HSB ” series, I use a hybrid creation process that combines mathematical strategies and intuitive approaches of creation for self-expression. I believe that procedural colors will play a significant role in art and design color selection processes and applications in the 21st Century. Through my mathematical art process, I investigate what happens when math becomes a trigger, an integral partner of the creative process of expression.

Composition With Light
Composition With Light
50 x 50 cm
Digital Media
2020

For the "HSB" series, I use a hybrid creation process that combines mathematical strategies and intuitive approaches of creation for self-expression. This project began by slicing the HSB color model into 30 equidistant vertical planes, defined by the angle of each hue. I developed color palettes exploring monochromatic (within a plane) and multi-hue gradations (across hues) from a sequence of planes within the system. The result is a work that controls how additive colors are meticulously juxtaposed to express that which is unknown.

Mathematical Selfie
Mathematical Selfie
38 x 38 cm
Digital Photography
2020

What is a selfie, and what does it have to do with math? To compose visually by direct observation and manipulation of light is probably one of the most intuitive mathematical processes. We live in the age of obsession with self-image. The Selfie is essentially a composition in itself; it's more than documentary photography. It is a subconscious movement towards being, towards becoming; a unique movement of light in time and space. This Selfie features a unique paper polyhedron, plane mirrors mutually at right angles to each other, color, and light. It was photographed for the polytopia project (www.polytopia.eu/en) at a Bridges Conference (2018) and further edited in 2020.