On Subliminal Geometry

"2113" Copyright 2009 by Chris Lombardi


"2151" Copyright 2009 by Chris Lombardi



"2156" Copyright 2009 by Chris Lombardi

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On Subliminal Geometry

People often ask me “How do you make that art?”

I usually reply that I make it on a computer. If they press further, I’ll likely tell them that it’s made using customized software, and leave it at that. The dirty details are nobody’s business but mine.

The designs I work with indeed originate from mathematics, and are recursive in nature. After some hundreds of hours spent coaxing palatable images out of numbers, I’m starting to gain an appreciation for the subtleties of the underlying geometry.

It’s that aspect of my art I’d like to throw down on the floor and kick around for a while.

All of my works are abstract, so there are some freedoms to be taken, lots of them. Additionally, I’ve never had any formal art training, so that makes me all the less accountable for some of the crap I create. Apparently there’s a whole set of things like Elements of Art and Principles of Design that people who “really” know what art is (and what other people should buy) are particularly keen on. Again, my ignorance is bliss as far as criticism is concerned.

Okay, back on track with the Subliminal Geometry thing… According to the all-knowing Google Search page, nobody else seems to be using the term right now, so I’ll jump on it and call it my own. Right here, right now, you heard it here first!

Imbedded within my art are recurring traces of the source mathematics. The contributing recursive elements are common enough geometrical figures – curves and arcs, cardioids, ellipses, hyperbolae, squares, circles and triangles are all represented. Smashing their formulae together in a somewhat random fashion sets the opportunity for interference to emerge from the mess. This mathematical “interference” creates what I call “Subliminal Geometry”.

Think of it in terms of physics. If you have a perfectly still swimming pool, and drop a pebble in each end, the two sets of ripples will meet and form a new shape. This new shape is different from either of the two original waves. That’s what the science guys call “interference”, and in my work it happens on a mathematical level.

Some of my works exhibit overt geometry, and that’s usually pretty easy to see when it’s evident. The geometry within other works is not so obvious. Subliminal Geometry comes into play by establishing patterns and rhythms within my work that - at first - escape sight and conscious recognition, but are still registered by the brain as looking and feeling “right”.

Think of another geometric shape that looks and feels "right", two parabolic curves side-by-side, yellow in color and seemingly perfect in shape and proportion. Yes, the Golden Arches that fed us so frequently when we were teenagers...

I’m looking forward to traveling down this road a bit further, to see where the implications of Subliminal Geometry might lead.

Peach be with you,

Peach pie,

Chris