The South African artist Jonty Hurwitz is having a moment on the Internet. And why not? Have you seen this stuff? Among other things, Jonty creates wonderful sculptures that at first appear like deformed blobs, but when viewed through their reflection on a central metal cylinder, reveal their intended nature. He uses complex 3D modelling software, and spends months conceiving just how to create the perfect illusion, finally assembling copper, steel or even resin in a piece that doesn’t fail to boggle the mind. It’s called Anamorphic Art:
For the anamorphic pieces its an algorithmic thing, distorting the original sculptures in 3D space using 2?r or ?r3 (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 ? 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.
We’ve embedded a couple more of Jonty’s pieces after the jump, as well as a couple of videos that do an even better job at communicating the artistry in Jonty’s work. But you should also visit his website where many more pictures await.
[ The Artist’s Page ] VIA [ This Is Colossal ]
Dude……
István Orosz did it before it was cool