Martin Do Pham
Artists
Martin Do Pham
Graduate Student
Computer Science, University of Toronto
Toronto, Canada
Statement
I seek research problems in mathematical methods that attempt to visually synthesize what would otherwise be considered dichotomous. By superimposing two opposing notions, I hope to produce a generative and obverse rather than disenchanting relationship. However, art alone sutures philosophy, and so both form and subject matter are informed by a heavy dose of drug culture as a transgressive means to bring my work under the condition of the political.
Artworks
Cannabis tilings at the rupture of the genotype-phenotype distinction
40 x 40 cm
Digital Print
2019
The piece is an attempt to represent the relationship between DNA sequences and phenotypic observations of Cannabis by capturing and visualizing a self-similar dynamic that extends as a metaphor for the repetitive nature of drug abuse. The visualization is produced by playing the chaos game on a recurrent iterated function system constructed to approximate the chaos game representation (a method for visualizing DNA sequences inspired by chaotic dynamics) of whole Cannabis sativa chloroplast genomes. The approximated attractor is then passed to a truncated fractal-shaped neural network trained to redistribute the pixel distribution closer to that of an image of Cannabis. The genotypic information becomes expressed in phenotypic texture.