Fractal Art

I'm not big on fractal art. It just doesn't move me. Yes its very clever, and when Benoit Mandelbrot published his book and showed us his forms, we were awestruck. The point was, here was pure mathematics, in fact "monster", "pathalogical" mathematics producing these incredibly simple, elegant and natural forms. If it was a graphic artist, (unless your are Euclid and you can't be because he's dead) producing mathematics, the end result would not exactly be pretty, in fact it would probably be fatal.
However 20 million iterations down the line, anyone who has used fractal creation software will tell you, its mainly a hit and miss process, resulting in perfect forms and saturated colours(asking for a wash) and if you are really honest, repetition. I should qualify that the repetition that I allude to here is not the type created on mass market software like Kai Power Tools, for in the latter one finds that although no two fractals are the same, the interface is limiting and if you are a lazy graphic artist, its very easy to be happy with your creations that require only a few offsets. The repetition here is not a mathematical function, rather an attribute of our smug self-satisfaction at creating epiphanies with a few clicks of a button. To those who constantly tweak and tune their little algorithms, props to you, because its that very process, hard bloody work, which is art. The sad thing is that many fang_raphicsTM (TMMINEEEEEE!) have mistaken 'fractal iteration" or "refinement" for "repetition" and what you have is thousands on thousands of bright and totally uninteresting batik prints, each one so formally perfect that even the best of forgers couldn't replicate it exactly. But the basic premise of producing eye movement is lacking, big time. Even on dope, a single frame of Miyazaki's Spirited Away is way more visually rich, and colorfully harmonic than any psychedelia postcard fractals are likely to produce. With Joe Fractal Art you are meant to be floored, viewing it like a head-on collision, you are wallpapered.

Nor am I a big fan of pictures of trees and snowflakes, especially ones with a nude mermaid, rampant unicorn and celtic runes thrown in. I do not like pictures of serene (and blanched) broccoli either. I rather BE in a tree, thanks. I'd rather watch swarms of sparrows fly over a lake or a horizon of Thika tress on some plain in Africa*(View On Tv, I wouldn't risk having my head shot off and knickers stolen from my still warm body, not that modesty is something you worry about when you don't have a head). I'm looking for a far different and elusive species. I'm looking for ways in which we can SEE fractally.

While trying to figure out whether this blog shows up on a search engine effectively, the link listed above me led to some horrible sounding commercial site, but the item I found listed in there just blew my mind. This is Fracthis, the fractal art of Chris Oldfield . It's one picture, but what a picture. This is something that a Pollock, a Miro or an Escher would do. Initially I thought I was looking at a top view of a bunch of tables at a restaurant, and how each table seemed as complex as the larger whole. It's not. What it just might be is the beginnings of a whole new sensibility or the resurgence of an incredibly old one.

If you want to dabble for yourself you can try Apophysis "a free, open, source fractal flame editor and renderer" - Wikipedia. If you want to take it further, you can try BRYCE for terrian and other complex figures in 3-D. I'm still waiting for some Houdini fiends to say "you know nothing about all things procedural" (trust me, they really speak like that, if they speak at all)
The really fun stuff are SIRDS, stereophonic diagrams, images you view by crossing your eyes and in return a well defined unrelated image will appear in 3-D out of random noise. Don't try viewing a SIRD onscreen, as you eyes constantly try to uncross horizontally while reading vertically..it is just an incredibly bad idea unless you find epilepsy a fun experience. Yeah..do something daring today..go and buy yourself an analog SIRD.

* In no way is this site trying to disparage the continent of Africa. It is the womb of humanity, rich in fractal villages that defy architectural conventions. Africa is a welcoming place for many nationalities, it is the home of millions of Indians and Chinese who continue to extract gold, conflict diamonds, rhino horn and teak forests. Many forms of art thrive there, most of which you may find on your dining table. I was talking about napkin rings.