Italian artist Giuseppe Randazzo takes a childhood game of playing with rocks to a whole new level. Using computer algorithms, the artist never actually touches a single stone in this series entitled Stone Fields. Rather, he creates computer code that mixes and arranges the realistic, geometric designs into these logical patterns. To create the equations, the artist is able to see the numbers in his head and predict the output of the final image.
The process is a non-physical way of sorting stones into decorative, spherical arrangements. The complex patterns that would take hours by hand take about 15 minutes with the use of modern technology. To form each unique photorealistic sculpture, Randazzo says, “The virtual stones created by several fractal subdivision strategies find their proper position within the circle with a trial and error hierarchical algorythm. A mix of attractors and scalar fields (some with perlin noise) drives the density and size of the stones. The code is a C++ console application that outputs an obj 3D file.”
Although you may not be sure exactly what that means, what we do know for sure is that the final output is magnificent and, real or not, the artfully placed stones evoke thoughts about the wonder and the beauty of the natural world around us.
