2019 Icerm Illustrating Mathematics
Matt Brand
Artists
Matt Brand
Principal
Zintaglio Arts, LLC
Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA
Statement
Zintaglio Arts develops new and unexpected visual experiences for museums, public venues, and arts festivals. We aim to please the eye and pique the curiosity. Leveraging under-appreciated perceptual and optical phenomena, we develop novel optimization and fabrication techniques that endow prosaic materials with new optical properties, turning them into imaging devices. Recent installations have featured holographic sheet metal, photographic shower glass, videographic sunshades, and pictographic chain-link fences.
Artworks
A metal plate that reflectively produces 3D imagery of a snake-skinned k7.6 knot. When lit by a small light source, the surface microtexture reflects thousands of glints of light, which appear to travel across the plate when motion of the eye, plate, or light changes the optical path. For certain motions, the 2D travel can be made consistent with the projection of a rigidly moving 3D point cloud. Adding occlusion effects then leads the brain to interpret the glints as a solid 3D scene. The inspiration for developing this technique: a curious glint on a piece of curved tinsel spied in the Artesia Lounge, a beloved 80's blues/dive bar.
A metal plate that reflectively produces 3D imagery of a toric knot.