Anita Chowdry

Statement

The techniques I use in my paintings are based on my research into the methods and materials of painting and illuminating in Indian and Persian manuscripts. The precision of these techniques works well with mathematically conceived contemporary work, enabling finely defined linear work and highly rendered areas of colour. I am interested in exploring the aesthetic and philosophical possibilities geometry, finding ways of combining classical forms that structured Islamic geometry with the intriguing organic shapes generated by different types of fractal geometry. I use mathematics as the primary inspiration in my work because of its inherent beauty and its challenge to make sense of and express what is beyond our normal sensory and emotional equipment.

Artworks

The original painting is created in two layers: the top layer is painted on paper with watercolours and hand-made malachite, pure gold and silver pigments, cut, and placed on a background of gold-flecked indigo dyed paper. A freehand Heighway dragon curve (with acknowledgement to Joel Castellanos' web-based "Fractal Grower") grows out of a Fibonacci spiral which curls in the background into an Archemedian spiral with Arabesques. The cut-out shapes pay homage to the artistic efforts of the many anonymous silverfish who have modified pages of historic manuscripts!