Archives for the Month of December, 2013

John A. Hiigli – Layering the Isotropic Vector Matrix

Cr_176_THREE_CUBE_OCTAHEDRONS_(FRONT) – John A. HiigliCr 176 Three Cube Octahedrons (Front) – John A. Hiigli

John A. Hiigli’s transparent pigment paintings and drawings combine aspects of transformation geometry, tessellation and subdivsioning systems. After discovering the work of Buckminster Fuller in the late 1960’s, and studying Fuller’s Geodesics and Synergetics, Hiigli has refined a body of work in which, typically, tetrahedral or polyhedral units are combined and layered to create dense lattices and translucent three-dimensional structures.

Cr_175_THREE_CUBE_OCTAHEDRONS_(side) – John A. HiigliCr 175 Three Cube Octahedrons (Side) – John A. Hiigli

Cr_194_CUBE_OCTAHEDRONS – John A. HiigliCr 194 Cube Octahedrons – John A. Hiigli

Many of Hiigli’s paintings model Buckminster Fuller’s Isotropic Vector Matrix – a skeletal framework and alternative to the standard xyz system, defined by cubic closest packed spheres, alternatively known as the face-centered cubic lattice to crystallographers. The spatial system of Isotropic Vector Matrix essentially translates to a geometry of least resistance.

CR56 – John A. HiigliCR56 – John A. Hiigli

CR50 – John A. HiigliCR50 – John A. Hiigli

CR143 – John A. HiigliCR143 – John A. Hiigli

‘When the centers of equiradius spheres in closest packing are joined by most economical lines, an isotropic vector matrix is disclosed. This matrix constitutes an array of equilateral triangles that corresponds with the comprehensive coordination of nature’s most economical, most comfortable, structural interrelationships. Remove the spheres and leave the vectors, and you have the octahedron-tetrahedron complex, the octet truss, the isotropic vector matrix’ – Buckminster Fuller.

VIRUS_XIX – John A. HiigliVirus XIX – John A. Hiigli

Cr_185_KALEIDOSCOPE – John A. HiigliCr 185 Kaleidoscope – John A. Hiigli

CR39 – John A. HiigliCR39 – John A. Hiigli

‘In complex constructions, increasing numbers of polyhedrons have a common nucleus embedded in a vector matrix. A large structure is embedded with a smaller structure, which encloses a smaller third structure, and so on. This decreasing volumetric relationship (‘change of scale’) of the structures produces the illusion of depth in space’ – John A. Hiigli

Related Post:
Drop City – Colonizing consciousness with abodes of Truncated Icosorhombic Dodecahedra

Further Readings:
Synergetics – Buckmister Fuller