Phil Webster

Statement

I've had a life long love affair with geometry, and my sweet spot is taking ancient geometric traditions and combining them with modern mathematical concepts like fractals and polyhedra to create unique, contemporary art and décor. I love making art that captures ancient traditions with a modern twist, and that brings meditative order, beauty, and peace into peoples' private spaces. As beautiful as they are, raw mathematical shapes are to me merely starting points. By seeking new combinations, I move beyond just exploration to true innovation. Thus, although I use the computer to create most of my pieces, I never generate them from code, preferring to use the computer as a tool to recombine basic forms by hand and forge my own creations.

Artworks

The Galaxy Lamp series explores the set of shapes called polar zonohedra, whose edges create multiple spirals in both CW and CCW directions. By extruding one set of these spirals in the axial direction, I create a simple-yet-complex dance of multiple spirals starting and ending at two common points. Andromeda T is based on the polar zonohedron with 8 starting vectors and pitch angle (the angle between those vectors and the XY plane) of ~ 35.26 degrees. The 8 edge spirals are extruded in the Z direction by 1.2x the edge length, and then made physical as cherry frames with washi paper inserts. One end of the full shape is truncated so that the spirals seem to disappear into the tabletop.