Supersymmetry (80"x60")
The Hidden Geometry of Carnival.
Supersymmetry, a term borrowed from particle physics, is a conjectured symmetry of space and time.
I use the term metaphorically in this series of images which are composed of Brazilian Carnival images combined in symmetrical patterns, some mandala like, some reminiscent of persian carpets, while others recall the interplay of positive and negative figures found in the works of M.C Escher.
I have long considered the Sambrodromo, the specialized stadium which once a year hosts the Brazilian carnival parade, to be a kind of human scale particle accelerator wherein the paraders are “accelerated” by the music and choreography, collectively creating transient visual patterns that spring into existence for fractions of seconds much like exotic “virtual particles” in the Large Hadron Collider.
Viewed as part of my multi year project exploring the visual panoply of Brazilian Carnival, this series expands on the primary impulse of this project which is to combine the colorful raw images in richly layered and digitally altered forms to create novel meta images that are themselves “carnivalesque”, suggesting a fractal carnival model, both in terms of image and technique. This series takes the prior efforts a step further by organizing the already layered secondary images on 2x2 and 4x4 grids to create overall geometric patterns with emergent visual interactions along the axes. This represents a 3rd degree of separation from the original photographs. It is super-symmetrical to the extent that it employs multiple types of symmetry, symmetries of position, articulation, and color, sometimes all at once.
Printed, these images would be very large, multiple times larger than the original images of which they are composed. Some are 4 times larger and some are 16 times larger than the originals, which would allow them to print in 80" by 60" formats. The fractal nature of this approach is actually unbounded and would allow for even larger truly monumental scale composite images.
Read MoreSupersymmetry, a term borrowed from particle physics, is a conjectured symmetry of space and time.
I use the term metaphorically in this series of images which are composed of Brazilian Carnival images combined in symmetrical patterns, some mandala like, some reminiscent of persian carpets, while others recall the interplay of positive and negative figures found in the works of M.C Escher.
I have long considered the Sambrodromo, the specialized stadium which once a year hosts the Brazilian carnival parade, to be a kind of human scale particle accelerator wherein the paraders are “accelerated” by the music and choreography, collectively creating transient visual patterns that spring into existence for fractions of seconds much like exotic “virtual particles” in the Large Hadron Collider.
Viewed as part of my multi year project exploring the visual panoply of Brazilian Carnival, this series expands on the primary impulse of this project which is to combine the colorful raw images in richly layered and digitally altered forms to create novel meta images that are themselves “carnivalesque”, suggesting a fractal carnival model, both in terms of image and technique. This series takes the prior efforts a step further by organizing the already layered secondary images on 2x2 and 4x4 grids to create overall geometric patterns with emergent visual interactions along the axes. This represents a 3rd degree of separation from the original photographs. It is super-symmetrical to the extent that it employs multiple types of symmetry, symmetries of position, articulation, and color, sometimes all at once.
Printed, these images would be very large, multiple times larger than the original images of which they are composed. Some are 4 times larger and some are 16 times larger than the originals, which would allow them to print in 80" by 60" formats. The fractal nature of this approach is actually unbounded and would allow for even larger truly monumental scale composite images.