What if paintings could move?
Why don't Van Gogh's beautiful thick brushstrokes move?
When I was eleven, I wondered why paintings didn't move like the television. Why didn't Van Gogh's beautiful thick brushstrokes move? They moved when he painted them. I am a painter, and I understand the power of each brushstroke—the visualization of paintings that move has stayed with me ever since.
Moving Fractal Paintings
In 1987, I was teaching a course, Computer Art, at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Benoit Mandelbrot gave a lecture on fractals geometry, the numbers of nature. I had long realized that using Euclidean geometry doesn't describe mountains or the sky. But Mandelbrot spoke of a geometry whose numbers could generate realistic mountains, the sky, leaves; in other words, these numbers described the natural world. I didn't sleep that night. This was a new world of numbers and possibilities. From then on, numbers were a part of my process.
Dancing with my Paintbrush
I dance with my paintbrush on the surface of the canvas. I love the motion of my painting process. In my Moving Paintings, the challenge is getting the shapes and colors to move, in time, in a way that pleases me.