Philippe Leblanc
Artists
Philippe Leblanc
Visual Artist - Architect Engineer
Brussels, Belgium
Statement
My work reflects my joint vision as both an architect and an artist, as well as my love for geometrical abstraction. Mathematics are a constant source of inspiration, but not a goal per se. The aesthetic and playful aspects of my artwork are always the final criteria. I am delighted when people with no mathematical background or supposedly allergic to it are sensitive to my art. Lately I have been inspired by famous irrational numbers as Phi, Pi or square root of 2, which cost so much work to generations of mathematicians. As a tribute to their discoveries and calculations, I imagined representations of the decimals of these numbers in 2D colored puzzles or 3D architectural models.
Artworks
This 'Gold Puzzle' is a geometric representation of the irrational number Phi (Φ) and its first decimals.
It contains 6 golden ratio rectangles. The trapezoidal pieces are defined by diagonals starting from the lower left corner. They are all different but cover the same surface on each row.
This artwork was originally imagined to represent a family tree. Hence the idea to replace the family members by the 62 first decimals of the golden number Phi. A color is assigned to each digit, (white for 1 to dark grey for 0), except for the integer part 1, which is covered with gold leaf.
The reading direction starts clockwise from the smaller rectangle up to the largest one.
This ' 3D Golden Puzzle ' is a geometric representation of the irrational number Phi (Φ) and its first decimals.
The base of the puzzle contains 6 golden rectangles. The 62 trapezoidal pieces, are determined by diagonals starting from the lower left corner.
A height is then assigned to each digit : 1.62 cm for 1, 3.24 cm for 2 and so on up to 16.18 cm for 0.
The first piece is a small golden ration rectangle, which stands for the integer part 1, and the next pieces for the 62 first decimals of the number Phi.
The reading direction starts clockwise from the smaller rectangle up to the largest one.
The 3D puzzle fits into a cuboid whose small faces correspond to a golden ration rectangle, and the large faces to a square.