Bruce Torrence
Artists
Bruce Torrence
Professor Emeritus of Mathematics
Randolph-Macon College
Ashland, Virginia, USA
Statement
As someone with a passion for the visual arts, I've long been fascinated by the ways humans process and interpret visual information. As a mathematician, I relish the joy and satisfaction that come from solving a difficult problem and understanding its underlying ideas. I strive in my own work to present viewers with patterns and symmetry, to convey a sense of wonder in its intricacy and scale, and to challenge viewers to make sense of what they see.
Artworks
Golden Penteract
50 x 68 x 35 cm
Wood
2022
This is an edge model of the five-dimensional hypercube, fabricated from wooden balls and sticks to fit within a rhombic icosahedron. While projection from five dimensions to three will necessarily introduce distortions, this linear projection preserves many of the essential qualities of the penteract: All edges, 16 of each in five directions, have the same length; all 80 faces are congruent (golden rhombi rather than squares); and the 32 vertices each belong to five edges, ten faces, ten 3D cubes, and five 4D tesseracts. Simplicity and purity of form drive the aesthetic. Edges are rendered in natural finishes and pastels, some notched to facilitate crossings. Natural wooden ball joints were hand-drilled using a custom 3D-printed jig.