This series is about finding a win after a loss and connecting the vast with the minute-but-not-insignificant.

During the pandemic, genetic variants popped up as fast as summer weeds. The word "mutation" filled every feed.

After I lost a near-aged cousin to the plague, I was struck by the vigorous variability of its many mutations.

I thought, Why not explore genetic mutation as a design process? How could I mimic viral variability as an aesthetic experiment?

"Why not explore genetic mutation as a design process?"

Experimentation

I got to work experimenting with fractal shapes using 3D modeling software in spring of 2022. The software churned out beautiful color, shape and texture. The forms resembled:

Dali-esque Snowflakes,

Spiraling galaxies made of twigs and

Bulbous insect body parts.

Fascinating, but devoid of meaning.

So, I typed important numbers into my fractal design software. Well, important numbers to me:

I used the numerals from my recent June wedding date. I wanted to counteract a family's loss with a family's win.

I took those numbers and I mutated them.

In other words, I inserted small random variations in the equations, while keeping the original numerals from the wedding date. I introduced alterations in composition, ambient lighting, form and camera angle.

It was a process; some variations required processing times of dozens of hours.

I spent months teasing out the fractals with those variations. In time, those shapes became more than just numbers.

Mutate, mutate, mutate.

I iterated for days, weeks, months: computer processing time alone was 500+ hours. Out of chaos, beauty emerged:

Orchid-like curves, the hint of a hummingbird in flight and jeweled layers of a wedding cake.

Finally, I got a handful of fractal forms that spoke to me. The all triggered sense memories of our nuptials (see subtitles).

In the end, beauty saved each genetic line of these fractals. These images are created in the naive hope that beauty can save us all, somehow.

Notes on each work

Wedding Cake's bold diagonals of pink texture resemble the shapes in layers of the artist's groom-made wedding cake. Imaginary biochemistry diagram of sweet wedding cake icing in the style of a Medieval artist overlays psychedelic color.

Ceremonial Icon connects the wedding date with the groom's appreciation of Buddhist philosophy and thought traditions. The strong central focus echoes heart chakra.

Hummingbird celebrates the picayune act of picking out bathroom tiles with one's spouse: a trivial moment with special meaning to the newlywed. The hummingbird is significant because of an actual hummingbird's brief-but-poignant visitation with the artist shortly before his wedding date.

Waterbear playfully connects the artist's favorite hiking trail with a comically horizon-filling microscopic creature.

Notes on series

Dominant colors include the "Miami Vice" TV show palette in a nod to characters Crockett and Tubbs, two of the artist's early para-social crushes, and to luxuriate in vaporwave aesthetic.

Hand mark-making with mixed media (chalk marker, colored sharpie, acrylic applied with knife).

Pieces include photo images from:

Alexandria, Virginia's Dyke Marsh Nature Preserve,

Visual inspiration from:

Ceremonial icons from Koya-san, Japan's Shingon Buddhism Sect.

Hummingbird geoglyphs from Nazca, Peru (currently at risk of development by Peru's Ministry of Culture).