Fragmented Fragments
& Fractals

2021 - 2022

FRAGMENTED FRAGMENTS & FRACTALS

WRITTEN BY
Eugene Hön

The exhibition in the lower ground of the FADA Gallery titled, Fragmented fragments and fractals: a progeny of shards formed part of the Staff Creative Output Exhibition titled, Situated Making and consisted of two separate ceramic statements:

A body of ceramic transferware;
digitally printed ceramic transfers of my ballpoint pen drawings, fired onto bespoke ceramic shards.

A projected animation of my ballpoint pen drawings onto an upscale shard,
a collaboration with Lukasz Pater, an animator and lecturer in Multimedia
and Dominic Hobbs, a Master’s student in Communication Design.

The exhibition sees the culmination of years of research into visual art drawing and ceramics, pioneering digital solutions. The advancement in digital technology has made it possible to scan my detailed ballpoint pen drawings to create digitally printed ceramic transfers for firing onto carved slip cast and glazed shards, including a projected animation of the renderings onto an upscale CNC-machined shard. The applied digitally printed ceramic transfers and projected animation reference traditional ceramic surface decoration and recent breakthroughs in ceramics and print, whilst pushing the boundaries on many decorative fronts.

The most obvious breakthrough is visible in the exploration of fractals in the applied waterslide ceramic transfer surface decoration. Previous transferware I produced made use of traditional textiles pattern techniques such as reflection symmetry, made from the drawings. The inclusion of fractals as surface decoration add a layer of complexity to the ceramic transferware and the projected animation, brought about by the incredible detail inherent in the scanned large format ballpoint pen drawings, A2 and A3 respectively.

"The imagination is a plurality of universes; or, rather, ‘nature’ imposes one object on many minds; whereas in the world of Imagination the one Mind creates innumerable universes. Within the living unity of Imagination moves an endless succession of ‘visions’ of ‘worlds of thought: Ever expanding in the Bosom of God, the Human Imagination."

(see Raine 1991: 25)

A BODY OF CERAMIC TRANSFERWARE

A body of ceramic transferware; digitally printed ceramic transfers of my ballpoint pen drawings, fired onto bespoke ceramic shards.

Made possible with the following expertise:
Dominic Hobbs Hobbs — fractal research and design, including transfer layouts
Ross May / ROSSCO — mould making and slip casting
Digital Ceramics — water slide transfers
John Shirley — technical ceramic consultant

The body of work consists of nine large scale, handcrafted slip cast shards, withbespoke applied digitally printed ceramic transfers. These were made from scanned and digitally enhanced ballpoint pen drawings of a cannabis bud and tree, a peacock spider and a dragonfly in the on-going series of transferware celebrating weeds. Large ceramic shards (fragments) are the perfect canvas on which to extend my exploration of fragmented surfaces (reimagined Yobitsugi as explained above), drawing inspiration from nature’s fractal patterns (repeat patterns of different sizes and configurations) developed in association with Dominic Hobbs, a Masters Graphic Design student.

The cannabis bud, peacock spider and dragonfly drawings are digitally enhanced with reference to fractals. They are applied to unique slip cast, carved, painted, glazed and inhouse fired shards, exploring the concept of fragmented fragments and fractals with creative and innovative surface development options. Applying the bespoke transfers to my uniquely designed and manufactured shards addresses some negative connotations associated with my earlier work, as being too commercial. Replacing the ready-mades with slip cast shards, in the creation of the bespoke applied transferware, is fundamental to making uniquely crafted one-of-a-kind ceramic statements. Transferware is a term normally applied to ceramics incorporating repeat transfers applied as decoration in the production of ranges of commercial ceramics.

BODY OF WORK

Fragment I

580mm length

Fragment II

580mm length

Fragment III

580mm length

Fragment IV

580mm length

Fragment V

580mm length

Fragment VI

580mm length

Fragment IX

580mm length

CATALOGUE

ANIMATED PROJECTION

Digitally enhanced ballpoint pen drawings animated and projected onto an upscale shard.

A collaboration between Eugene Hön and Lukasz Pater, animator and lecturer in Multimedia,

including Dominic Hobbs, Masters Student in Graphic Design.

Made possible with the following expertise:
Dan Carstens — CNC files & machining
With financial support of the FRC and URC

Continuing my investigation into drawing and ceramics; pioneering digital solutions, I am once again teamed up with Lukasz Pater, to produce an animated projection of my latest ballpoint pen drawings onto a very large upscale ceramic shard (a fragment of a traditional ceramic platter), exploring the above concept of fragmented fragments and fractals. We successfully developed the first projected animation of its kind in 2009, titled: and the ship sails on… It was exhibited at the 2014 Ceramic Biennale in Taiwan. The latest work was exhibited adjacent to the handcrafted and fired ceramic shards on the lower ground of the FADA Gallery, presented as a separate ceramic installation. The animated projection consists of digitally enhanced ballpoint pen drawings, animated and projected onto an upscale CNC-machined polymer shard.

Lukasz Pater worked with Dominic Hobbs (designer of the range of fractals used in the transferware series) to capture and soundtrack an interpretation of the fractals in an abstract animated motion sequence. It is particularly this aspect of the projection that gives the work its unique, innovative and creative qualities. The mercurial, oscillating fractals owe their three dimensionality to the meticulously rendered large-scale ballpoint pen drawings, supported by the 4K high resolution projection and its mapped motion gliding over the undulated shape of the upscale shard.

The animated projection permeates the shard, elevated up close to the viewer on a plinth and transforming it into a luminous light source. The fractal patterns appear to be floating in space within the glowing shard, further enhancing the three dimensionality of the fractals in motion. It was precisely this opportunity, to again explore the potential for animated ceramic installations, that kindled a desire to collaborate and bring the ceramic surface decoration to life through a motion driven surface solution. Inspired by the ceramic transferware but taking on a life of its own, the animated projection of my drawings is both captivating and mesmerising, a true reflection of what is referred to as the digital handmade.

Mr Paters’ contribution comprises an interpretation of the ballpoint pen drawings and digitally enhanced fractals, as a series of dynamic motion graphics that animate across the surface of the shard, an interface between physical and digital media. The projected animation explores the notion of fragility and impermanence, closely associated with the cracks of the fragmented ceramic fragments and the fractals in the surface development of the transferware.

Animation is by nature fleeting, comprised of a multitude of still images that move past the viewer in such quick succession that they are each presented for the briefest instance before being replaced by the frames that follow. Like all performances, animation exists in a moment in time and is always in flux, never fixed and frozen. Mr Hobbs’ contribution involves creating an accompanying sonic palette to the animation sequence, complimenting the abstract nature of the visuals with a loosely evolving ambient soundscape that predominantly uses electronic music synthesis and field-recordings of nature to imagine the scene.