Adam Zynger

Statement

As an artist and editor of Artists Equity Newsletter, I have published an article on Art and Science, which introduced Baltimore art community to the interrelatedness of these two disciplines. My computer-generated fractal art is based on fractal geometry for which I am indebted to Benoit Mandelbrot, the Master of Roughness and Complexity, and many other mathematicians and programmers, who lured me into the exuberance of its iterative language. Here I attempted to provide a link between fractal visual expressions and a plausible reality in three forms of expression, a purely geometrical scintillating pattern, a semi-similar one and of “grotesquely” realistic stalks. This may well lead to better understanding of neuroesthetics.

Artworks

"Scintillations" – This is a more complex version of Scintillating Grid Illusion, which relies on deceptive retinal afterimage perception of lateral inhibition. In spite of fixed geometry, the variable tiling of the dark and bright areas creates a dynamic pattern. It is accomplished by small, well-defined distances in which the vertical and horizontal lines intercept against a colored background in conformity with the receptive field of the retina. The pattern appears to be in a continuous flux, whether we fix our gaze or move it around. It needs to be emphasized that RGB system on a computer screen offers better luminance than a printed equivalent, which is critical in this instance in order to obtain the illusion of movement

"Arrival" - Using a tessellation technique in various applications, I “arrived” at an enchanted apparition straight from the Star Wars. The “spacecraft” edges through the coordinates pattern, with its ramps of stretched polygons wide open and an aura of intergalactic light rays radiating in the background. Choosing different filters, I was able to contrast the textures from gritty granularity to smooth and glassy surfaces.

"Gargoyle" - Grotesque configuration resembling the gargoyles on French gothic cathedrals with added vascularity/vegetation stalks quite rigorous and convincingly real yet a result of various formulas of a fractal geometry and computer graphics, including a photo realism of ray tracing and ambient occlusion. It reiterates the fact that branching out is a nature’s way of expansion (for good or bad), following the laws of physics and math. It is reminiscent also of Archimboldo’s veggie portraits (a 16th c. mannerist painter).