Artist: Robert Fathauer




Seals


The design of tilings in which the individual tiles are recognizable motifs was an enduring passion of Escher's. My goal has been to explore such tilings while taking advantage of mathematics not known to Escher, in particular using Penrose tiles, related multiple-solution tilings and fractal tilings. Several of Escher's prints, for example, the Circle Limit prints, exhibit self-similarity at different scales. This is a defining characteristic of fractals, a mathematical concept not widely known or developed in Escher's lifetime. I show here examples of prints with fractal character. The first of these, Bats and Owls, does not depart too far from the sort of designs Escher made. The individual tiles are not fractal, nor is the boundary of the tiling. However, singularities (points at which the tiles become infinitesimally small) are distributed throughout the design, while in Escher's designs they only occur at the boundary. In Fractal Masks, however, the individual tiles have fractal character. Each tile has features that occur an infinite number of times on different scales. I have also designed a self-replicating fractal tile using an iterative process.


Scorpion, Diamondback and Phoenix

Koch Island Fish

Bats and Owls

Fractal Serpents

Fractal Masks

All artwork © Robert Fathauer.

Robert Fathauer,
3913 E. Bronco Trail,
Phoenix, AZ 85044,
U.S.A.
E-mail: tessella@futureone.com
Website: http://www.tessellations.com



____________________________

        
       | Homage to Escher |
                                       
                                  | gallery entrance |

                            | past exhibitions |

                                           | Leonardo On-Line |