Vincent Schumacher

Artists

Vincent Schumacher

Artist

Retired

Olympia, Washington,USA

Statement

I am interested in programming and photography, and I combine them in my art. I make tessellations of photos with a new constraint: I cut a photo to make tiled shapes that must — through only reflection, rotation, or translation — connect seamlessly to the edges of all the tiles they touch. Sometimes I start with a photo and fit it to a tessellation. Other times I start with a tessellation and find a photo that will fill it with an interesting pattern. At a distance, the images look like abstract patterns. Closer, they become obvious photos. Looking even closer, new sub-patterns emerge. The same tessellation or photo can yield vastly different images if different pieces are used to make the tiled shapes.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Pentagon Lizard Tessellation' — Pentagon Lizard Tessellation
50.0 x 50.0 cm
Photograph
2023

The challenge was to fill a tessellated space with tiles cut from a photo so that the edges of the image on each tile connected seamlessly with the edges of all the adjacent tiles. I started by cutting a pentagonal shape out of the photo so the lizard would face directly toward one of the edges. I then cut a 72-72-36 degree triangle out of that pentagon and reflected it along its edge so that the lizard faced itself, creating a new kite-shaped tile in the process. I repeatedly reflected that new tile along its longest edge until it met back up seamlessly with the image on the first kite. I then expanded the resulting figure seamlessly using material from the original photo so I could crop the finished image into a square.

Vincent Schumacher

Artists