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Volume 32, Number 4, pages 525-541 (2021)
https://doi.org/10.26830/symmetry_2021_4_525
UBIQUITOUS SYMMETRIES IN THE ABSTRACT CALLIGRAPHIC PAINTINGS OF ILONA LÉNÁRD
Kas Oosterhuis*
* Faculty of Architecture, Technical University of Delft, 134 Julianalaan, Delft 2628, Netherlands.
E-mail: oosterhuis@oosterhuis.nl
ORCID: 0000-0003-0756-2674
Abstract: Analysing the acrylic paintings of visual artist Ilona Lénárd there is a striking similarity with natural phenomena and mathematical constructs alike. As in the universe itself, ubiquitous symmetries are found in the works of Lénárd. Although the artist is likely unaware of the hidden mathematics behind her gestures with the acrylic marker, there are strong signs of rotational and mirror symmetry in the strokes that she puts on the canvas with such intuitive force. Other artists before her travelled a similar road in expressive abstract painting, notably Jackson Pollock and robotic artist Leonel Moura. In Lénárd’s work the intricate symmetrical folding of molecules come to mind when observing her strokes, especially in the Flow series. Having lived and worked some years in Doha, Qatar, it shows in retrospect that Lénárd’s work resonates with Arabic abstract calligraphy. What is shared between nature, mathematics, calligraphy and Lénárd’s paintings is an intuitive and powerful grace of the constituent gestures, the notion of zero gravity, and hence a symmetrical balance of the overall image forming a ubiquitous symmetrical universe.
Keywords: ubiquitous symmetry; universe; paintings; nature; robotics; applied mathematics; algorithms; intuitive calligraphy; patterns.
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