Artists
Statement
This year I went back to a design that I made 24 years ago but needed improvements. MC Escher (1898-1972) was fond of polyhedra and decorated a number of them, Starfish and Shells on a regular Platonic dodecahedron is one of the better-known examples. My design is in his spirit but with a couple of new ideas. The underlying polyhedron is a rhombic dodecahedron (known to Escher but not illustrated with figures by him). My figures are birds that would interlock on the polyhedron, but I lifted them up to give the impression of flying birds. The new improvements were in the choice of material and simplified attachments of the birds without a visible polyhedron.
Artworks
Dodeca Doves
22.0 x 22.0 x 22.0 cm
Aluminum sheet metal, wires, glossy oil paint
2023 (2000)
Dodeca Doves is named after the underlying rhombic dodecahedron (twelve birds on twelve faces). The rhombs are a good starting point to create birds that interlock. Of course, one could not lay them on a periodic 2D grid, but the customary layout of a polyhedral net (often used to construct the models) would show that the figures match when two faces are adjacent. The rhombic dodecahedron has some interesting symmetries which are in part reflected by the birds. For instance, the heads or tails can occupy the eight vertices with three-fold rotational symmetry. The six vertices with four faces are in two-fold rotational symmetry, each touched by two left and two right wings. The best place for the model is in partial sun with some light wind.