Risto A. Paju

Statement

I discovered the art of iterated function systems (IFS) in a fractal mathematics course during the summer of 2015. Having no background in visual arts, this opened up a weird new world of expression to complement my endeavours in music and theatre. As an occasional maths and science teacher, I could always use fresh reasons why a young person should take up mathematics. With these pictures, I hope to make a strong case for artistic fascination and dismantle the cold, hard image of science.

Artworks

I rarely plan my IFS art in advance. Especially with nonlinear and non-analytic functions, the effect of changing parameters is often hard to predict, so I usually just play around with a couple of simple functions until something interesting comes up. One night I nearly freaked out, as this maelstrom of madness emerged from the interplay of two rather innocent functions in the complex plane.

One of my early attempts with IFS art, using two complex functions. Plotted only in black and white, as I had yet to discover my colour technique. Hence the power of dithering, making variable shades from individual points, becomes very apparent. This picture also features a rather personal theme of mine with its spiritual and philosophical interpretations.