Fractals and Ruins
While traveling through Italy, I became fascinated and deeply inspired by the effects of time on once-pristine buildings.
I find myself looking past the superficial damage, the peeling paint, the crumbling plaster, the fractured stone, layered over ancient frescoes, sculptures, and structures. In my mind’s eye, I see the original forms beneath the dirt, cracks, and missing pieces. And yet, paradoxically, it’s the damage itself that amplifies the strength and artistic grandeur of the original.
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Fractal In The Sky
Acrylic on Canvas 39×39 inch
The broken patterns in the wall have the beauty of fractal ruins. The remaining architecture creates a memory of what once was. Our imagination extends the concept of what was original into something more beautiful and pure. We are not constrained by the what was fixed structure. The combination of fractal ruin and imagination creates a new ideal concept. The original building had a mathematical grandeur, and the ruins add to the grandeur of the original.
Broken Mosaics
Acrylic on Canvas 39×39 inch
The cracks created by time have beautiful patterns layered on top of the original design. The wear and tear have created beauty out of the destructive process. There is an elegance in the proportions of the damage. The decay of the ruins has a wonderful absolute beauty layered onto the original. Our mind fills in the gaps, creating a Platonic perfect original. Only our eyes and minds can detect and see the combined beauty of the builder’s craftsmanship and time’s transformative effect as a whole new work of art.
Broken Tiles
Acrylic on Canvas 39×39 inch
The mosaic field has broken tiles, creating an additional layer of complexity on top of the original geometric design. In particular, the negative space of the floor cracks reveal the fractal patterns created by the passage of time. The natural aging is of an equal beauty to the mosaic floor as originally designed. The broken pieces destroyed by time combine with the original concept, creating a new and more complex work of art.
Fractal Walls In Pompeii
Acrylic on Canvas 39×49 inch
During the eruption of Mount Vesuvius, the city of Pompeii was covered in ash. The City disappeared into the mounds of ash that fell down. The weight of the volcanic debris crushed the houses and buildings. The resulting force, stress, and movement created fractal forms as the roofs and walls were destroyed. The result is reminiscent of an engineering destruction test. The remaining structures have a fractal shape. The ruins exist today as a portion of the once perfect architecture, now turned into fractal walls.
