divine proportion 2003

details

:::: winner, 8th East Coast Sculpture Show - Thursday Plantation, Ballina NSW
:::: 2.2m (height) x 2.7m x 4.2m
:::: timber, MDF, acrylic primer and paint; steel support structure
:::: the work no longer exists due to severe damage

artist statement

Looking more like a rattled snake, the work is an abstract form obeying an imposed rule of progressive growth dictated by the number 1.618. This number is better known as the Golden Mean and has engaged the western aesthetic since ancient Greece. Proportioned growth or division directed by the Golden Mean are readily apparent in nature and range from spiral growth in shells to more linear propagation in tree branches or roots, and in the breaking of lightning.

Here a cube measuring 300mm x 300mm x 300mm is made to grow in a manner where each segment is 1.618 times the length of the previous, and the change in direction is dictated by an invented rule.