The world takes shape but does not stay 2024

In his book Art and Physics, Leonard Shlain proposes that visionary artists often foreshadow later discoveries by revolutionary scientists.

Renaissance painter Giotto di Bondone (1276-1337) was one of the first known artists to use perspective in his paintings (so distant objects look smaller), and to show an object as it looks when viewed from an angle (so that a circle appears as an ellipse). However, it was over 100 years later before perspective was described scientifically (by mathematician, artist, and architect – Leon Battista Alberti).

Refer also interview with Bowen Galleries, and installation images. 

If you put your eye at the apex of the cone and look down, the three brass rings (suitable in size for a ring, a bracelet, and a neckpiece) all appear the same size. 

Giotto was also one of the first artists to tell a story in a painting through capturing a single moment in time (instead of by showing multiple events in a single image). When viewed from a distance the series of two-dimensional rings appear as multiple versions of the same ring, viewed from different angles – or perhaps a single ring rotating through time.

It is said that Giotto won a commission with the Vatican by drawing a perfect circle using his body as a compass. In the pendant series, the polished brass circle has been drawn with a compass. The matte versions are my own hand drawn attempts. There are also synergies with Plato’s concept of perfect forms (circles, spheres, cubes and pyramids) that only exist on a higher plane, and where all shapes in the visible world are inferior copies.

Sterling silver rings and bracelet