Samuel Monnier
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Biography
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Samuel Monnier was born in La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland in 1980.
He took an interest in both computer and physics at an early age.
In 1995, he became interested in fractal and algorithmic art and wrote basic
programs to draw fractals on a computer. Three years later, he began
implementing algorithms using Ultra Fractal. In the year 2000, he
wrote his first algorithm working with the principle of "pattern piling", on
which all of his recent works are based and which define his style. Perfecting
the algorithms represents an important part of his artistic expression.
He has always enjoyed the
paintings of Paul Klee and Gustav Klimt and their influence can be seen
throughout his compositions. Ethnic art is also a source of inspiration for
the patterns incorporated into his digital creations.
He is a well known personality in the fractal art community, and has served as a
juror for several fractal art contests. One of his work has notably been featured in
an exhibition organized for the 2006 International Congress of Mathematicians
in Madrid.
In 2008 he obtained his Ph.D. in theoretical physics at the University
of Geneva, Switzerland. He is currently working in the Department of Physics and
Astronomy at Rutgers University.
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Statement
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"My compositions are instances of algorithmic art, namely art produced by algorithms.
An algorithm is a set of unambiguous rules applied to some data to produce a result.
The algorithmic artist does not create a work directly, but rather devises an algorithm
which will yield a work. My algorithms are executed on a computer, which performs
computations and logical operations to produce a digital image.
The resulting compositions are purely abstract. Accordingly, they do not carry any
title; a mere number is assigned to each of them for convenience. Yet,
they display ubiquous fractal structures which have numerous analogs in Nature.
The bark of a trunk, a rocky cliff, the surface of a planet display everywhere
details on a large scale range, what makes their visual richness and
beauty. I am striving to reproduce this characteristic in the purely abstract
context of my works.
To this end, most of my compositions are constructed on the idea of
"pattern piling". Copies of a simple pattern are created at various size scales
and are merged together. This technique allows to
produce images so complex that they could never have been imagined, let alone
realized, by a bare human mind. Each of them forms a little
abstract world, where shapes and colors are combined according to simple rules
to produce a highly complex picture in which the observer's eye can wander and get lost.
Algorithms are still largely unknown as a medium of creating visual art. Hopefully
these pages will awaken the interest some art lovers and artists for this innovative
technique."
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Exhibitions
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Selected group exhibitions
2009, Galerie Les 3 Soleils, Epesse, Switzerland 2009, MIDAC - Museu Internazionale Dinamico di Arte Contemporanea, Belforte del Chienti, Italy 2007, Exhibition associated to the 2nd International Benoit Mandelbrot fractal art contest, Pamplona, Spain 2006, Fonlad digital art show, Coimbra, Portugal curated by José Viera 2006, Fractal art exhibition at the International Congress of Mathematicians, Madrid, Spain 2000-present, The Frontier Between Art and Science, Granada, Valladolid, and Salamanca, Spain; Lyon and Anglet, France; Buenos Aires, La Plata, and Resistencia, Argentina; Belgrade, Yugoslavia; Vienna, Austria; Tokyo, Japan.
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