Anamorphic Sculptures Made with Algorithms

 

Jonty Hurwitz is an artist currently living in London, England. The self-described ‘artist scientist archetype’, Hurwitz took an engineering degree in Johannesburg, South Africa. In his series of anamorphic sculptures below, Hurwitz’s distorted artworks can be seen ‘clearly’ when placed in front of a cylindrical mirror.

On his inspiration and process, Hurwitz tells Colossal:

“I have always been torn between art and physics. In a moment of self-doubt in 2003, I wondered into the National Portrait Gallery and stumbled across a strange anamorphic piece by William Scrots (Portrait of Edward VI, 1546). Followed shortly down the aisle by The Ambassadors (Hans Holbein, 1533). My life changed forever. I rushed home and within hours was devouring the works of Escher, Da Vinci and many more. In a breath I had found “brothers” in a smallish group of artists spanning 500 years with exactly the same dilemma as me. Within two months I was deep in production of my first work. My art rests on the shoulders of giants, and I am grateful to them.
 
For the anamorphic pieces it’s an algorithmic thing, distorting the original sculptures in 3D space using 2πr or πr3 (cubed). Much of it is mathematical, relying on processing power. There is also a lot of hand manipulation to make it all work properly too as spacial transformation have a subtle sweet spot which can only be found by eye. Generally I will 3D scan my subject in a lab and then work the model using Mathematica or a range of 3D software tools. I think the π factor is really important in these pieces. We all know about this irrational number but the anamorphic pieces really are a distortion of a “normal” sculpture onto an imaginary sphere with its centre at the heart of the cylinder.” [Source: Colossal]

 

To see more artwork from Jonty, be sure to check out his official site jontyhurwitz.com. You can also find him on Facebook and Twitter where he frequently shares his work along with others that inspire him.

If you’re interested in prints of some of his work, be sure to check out Saatchi Online

[via Colossal]