FRACTALS: Fractal Art
“I was blown away by the pieces of art the author has created. This is one of those art books that one needs to keep close to the favorite coffee place and relook at the art work every now and then. If you love fractals, you will love this book.” —Mukesh Gupta, NetGalley Reviewer
A fractal is essentially a never-ending, repeating pattern. Fractal geometry can reflect and illuminate structures and patterns found in nature—from mountains, coastlines, and hurricanes to movements of the stock market over time. Perhaps, fractals can be seen to represent a metaphor for our chaotic times as we attempt to understand the processes and structures which are manifest in the chaos and ineffable beauty of our ever-changing and dynamic natural world.
Acclaim for Fractals:
“A new category in digital art emerges. Cleveland’s work can be classified as a new form of abstract art since they represent objective realities through layers of elements that achieve striking effects. You can say that fractal art is unique, but it begs the bigger question of what makes it unique compared to other art forms. As a fractal artist, Cleveland demonstrates how it can be unique, for it is the only medium that explores fractal structures through digital and classical aesthetics. Browse through this collection and experience its mesmerizing effect.” —Vincent Dublado, Readers’ Favorite
“The book begins with an introduction to this new media art form and its technique, which employs the use of mathematical algorithms to formulate vibrant, abstract imagery that is mostly free from the boundaries of more traditional art forms. The book contains work such as Bluestar, an ethereal blue and green six-prong star comprised of spherical, slightly bowed limbs that are perfectly shadowed, making the piece appear almost three dimensional, its coloring absolutely luminous. Similar standout work that harnesses the smooth perfection of multiple spheres are Cleveland’s Lydia & The Octopus and Spherefield. My personal favorite is Stargazer and its endless spiral of crimson and gold. The animalistic Neurosis, a network of contours reminiscent of a zebra-peacock hybrid, is a piece that I would be proud to hang above a mantle and could stare at it for hours. Overall, this is an excellent compilation that allows the beautiful legacy of art created by Jack Cleveland to outlive all of us. Highly recommended.” —Jamie Michele, Readers’ Favorite
“He saw that infinite complexity could be described by simple rules…
He gave us order out of chaos, he gave us hope where there was none
His geometry succeeds where others fail.
So if you ever lose your way, a butterfly will flap its wings
From a million miles away, a little miracle will come to take you home.”
“Mandelbrot Set” by Jonathan Coulton
https://www.jonathancoulton.com/
Jack Cleveland, a polymath, had an artistic eye from an early age. Largely self-taught, his first intentional “work” was created by hammering together three pieces of driftwood to make a duck in flight; a self-portrait of himself fishing was done around age four, followed by many detailed pictures of space-ships and fantastical landscapes. He grew up on a farm in Kansas and explored the fields and streams around his home, finding special rocks and fossils. In college, he discovered the wonders of geology and astronomy. He was greatly influenced by the images coming from the Hubble space-flight, and soon was incorporating that vision into his art-work, now done with computer graphics as he experimented with new techniques and software just emerging. An early adopter of computer technology, his fractal artwork combined his life-long love of nature and technology, brought together in this collection of original fractal art images.
