hq

DeviantArt Headquarters

Home About Us Gallery Favourites Journal

Staff Area

The Fractal Universe

Journal Entry: Mon Aug 8, 2011, 3:46 PM

Is a photograph only a record, something created by a machine? Can photography ever truly be considered art? That question seems quaint and laughable these days, but if you do a little research you will find that once upon a time it was a raging debate. Thankfully a consensus has been reached that the agency of the photographer – his or her eye and critical mind – choosing the subject and manipulating the machine (the camera that is the art instrument) is what establishes photographs as potential works of art when created by an artist-photographer. Pretty basic common sense, huh? So why then is there now a debate as to whether FRACTAL ART is truly art – or just something produced by poking patterns into a computer? Isn't it just really random e-graffiti, a fibonacci button mash?

Here we go again… Hopefully it won’t take nearly a century again before fractal art is recognized as the creative expression of artistic individuals possessing, developing and executing a distinct subset of critical-analytical, emotional, and technical skills in order to create objects that can inspire, amuse, soothe, startle or otherwise engage the mind of the beholder. It’s art for the new age, and a most welcome new player.

Fireworks by JodeciCorrea

My Questions for the Reader

How do you respond to critics who claim that fractal art is too much of the “machine” creating the artwork?
What is the extent of the artist’s human agency that makes a fractal artwork the artists vision rather than just an extension of “the machine”?
Is a background in mathematics or programming something that can greatly aid a fractal artist?

While writing this article I recalled a brief but mind expanding conversation I was lucky enough to have with Ray Kurzweil last year about the coming Singularity and it made me think…

When we are able one day soon to use computer chips implanted in our brains to project purely imagined images onto canvases, monitors or into the air as floating holograms – will this be accepted as genuine artistry … or will these “artists” be dismissed as mere “daydreamers”?

I have only chosen a few pieces of Fractal artwork for this article so I am really looking forward to hearing your thoughts on Fractal Art in general and whom you might recommend as some of the more inspiring Fractal Artists on dA.

:thumb96769603:

Symphonia Of Glass Touchers by Clepsidras

Since posting this article on Monday

I have had the opportunity to learn quite a bit about Fractal art from the community behind these amazing works of art. Most inspiring to me were the details around how the pieces are actually constructed and some of the unique history behind the origin of the medium itself. The Fractal community here on dA is comprised of a very talented, passionate and generous group of people. Thank you to everyone, who in the last week helped me to better understand this beautiful art form.

There has been incredibly inspiring discussion in the comments below around the questions that I posed to the community. These are just a few of the deviants who have already contributed to the conversation in meaningful ways.