It’s Beyond Me

As an artist I look at the world differently than most or at least I’ve been told that. I’m interested in the how of things and the why of things. When I first heard about fractal geometry it had never occurred to me that their needed to be a geometry that would describe the construction of clouds and trees.

I spent time looking at fractal objects and then discovered Mandelbrot Sets. When I saw the Windmill Hill crop

Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, 29th July 1996. Copyright: Colin Andrews See more at:
Windmill Hill, Wiltshire, 29th July 1996.
Copyright: Colin Andrews
See more at:

circle in 1996 things just seemed to stop. No matter how foreign these things are to my way of seeing the world I have to wonder where this “other” geometry comes from. When I saw the above image carved out of a farmer’s field things changed in me. I felt suddenly willing to open myself to unorthodox possibilities.

I wondered, why do we need two sets of rules if we all live in the same place. I also wondered why Quantum Physics just won’t jive up with Newton’s Physics.

I know Colin Andrews and one of the most profound things he said to me was, “It really doesn’t matter if people make a crop circle or some force unknown to us. The people got their idea from someplace and maybe that someplace is trying to tell us something!”

I know I can only think things through to a certain point. My mind just tilts a different way so I let some greater power take over and finish the job I can’t. I think part of the reason art exists is to explain the connection between these two places. Those of us open enough to accept the possibility. The math involved in the creation of the image above is beyond me. But still I seek truth and what’s real.

Maybe this power that drives fractal geometry also drives us. The pity is we spend most of our lives running away from it.

Have a Safe and Happy New Year…