2020 Joint Mathematics Meetings
John Snow
Artists
John Snow
Professor of Mathematics
University of Mary Hardin-Baylor
Belton, Texas, USA
Statement
I write code for mathematical art to relax from work. The mathematics is refreshing. The coding is relaxing. Producing a mathematical work that can be appreciated by a general audience is rewarding.
Artworks
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Crazy Night
25 x 25 cm
Digital Print on Aluminum
2019
This may not be crazy, but it is definitely irrational. The image pictures 625 bits in the binary expansion of the square root of 2 displayed in a spiral beginning at the bright spot in the center. Dark blocks correspond to 1s, and light blocks correspond to 0s. I first created a grid of black and white squares representing bits and following a pattern like the Ulam spiral and then "painted" the grid with a patch matching algorithm, taking paint strokes from van Gogh's "Starry Night."

Blue Torus #2
8 x 22 x 22 cm
Digital print on paper
2019
A random binary operation on [-1,1] is generated using functions from precalculus. Then parametric equations are used to map this binary operation to a function on the surface of a torus. Values of this function are interpreted as colors to paint the torus, and the result is projected onto this 64 sided polyhedral approximation of a torus.