Andrew Smith

Statement

I continue to treat pencil drawings of polygon progressions I commenced in 1968. This is an example of one of the first, of which what there are now more than 200 distinctive drawings. Some I have depicted in paintings and constructed out of wood. I have digitized them all, and continue to extrude them with 3D rendering software. The “Sun Pool” exhibits how I justified selecting a limited number from an infinite field of choices. I created its first version as one print from a suite of twelve “Beacons” in 2015. I added additional waves and symbols to that version for a friend who admired it.

Artworks

Rather than extruding this arrangement of polygons into a tall work, I’ve expressed it as a wading pool. There are twenty-four polygon steps. The largest yields twenty-six sides. I etched the blocks adjacent to each side with one of the first twenty-six symbols from the Periodic Table of Elements. There are twenty-six elements emitted by the sun. The symbols face outwards, starting with hydrogen at the top. They progress downwards, with the even-numbered chemicals on the right and odd ones on the left, ending with iron on the bottom - chemical number twenty-six.