2024 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Aiman Soliman
Artists
Aiman Soliman
Research Scientist
NCSA - University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, Illinois, USA
Statement
My graphic art features tessellations, symmetry, and visual illusions. I explore in my art approaches to the visual harmony of forms and colors rooted in mathematical concepts such as symmetry, tessellations, and group theory. My biggest inspiration came from classical Western music, particularly those written in the style of counterpoint, such as compositions by JS Bach, because in these compositions, the logical/mathematical and the emotional are intertwined.
Artworks
The visual contrapuntal field is composed of two superimposed layers. I achieved consonance when the two layers interacted to produce one of the 17 plane symmetry groups. I resolved any dissonance (asymmetrical changes) by moving to consonance.
Form harmony: The visual field starts with a unison of the two layers at symmetry group p4 (step 2 starting from the left) that transitions to a dissonance (steps 6, 7). This dissonance resolves in consonance at symmetry p4 (step 10), which transitions to symmetry p2 (steps 12 – 14) before it ends in consonance at group pgg (steps 15-17), which by turn transitions back to p2 before it ends in unison at symmetry p4 (notice that p2 acts as a bridge between p4 and pgg in wallpaper group relations).