Pieces of Infinity : ALEXANDER ZAKLYNSKY

PIECES OF INFINITY

Over the last few years I have produced a group of wood, bronze and metal Tetra-Helix sculptures titled Pieces of Infinity. The sculptures represent my research into the characteristics of the simplest Platonic form, a regular tetrahedron. A regular Tetrahedron is a form in which all four faces are equilateral triangles. It is the simplest of the five regular Platonic solids, which have been known since antiquity.

I see the tetrahedron as being a symbol of emergence and how from nothing comes something. It takes 3 points in space to define a plane, which is infinitely thin. It takes one more point anywhere off that plane to define a tetrahedron, which creates a 3d structure in space. The tetrahedron becomes even more interesting and dynamic when stacked upon itself. Even in an infinite string of stacked regular tetrahedra, no two regular tetrahedra will have the same orientation, because the helical pitch per cell is not a rational fraction of the circle.

This study has developed from linear Tetra-helix constructions to what I call ‘splices’ and ‘arcs’, where the linearity is bent or abstracted. In this direction of thought I have been interested in developing a computer modelling program which can generate tetrahedral forms. This would be a type of shape grammar using regular tetrahedra and capable of producing variations based on set rules. .The general intent with this sculpture work is to explore variations of how tetrahedra can be arranged and what larger forms may emerge. The simplest Platonic form can be arranged in ways where very elegant and almost fluid lines and arcs emerge. Herein lies my fascination with this methodology. Searching for balance in this process has led me to discover how this constructivism can lead to possibly infinite variations.

Piece of Infinity - Steel.: 4.5 m - Voorhout Monumentaal 2021