Platonics

A response to being buffeted by forces outside of our control. Platonics sought to find order, control and solace in the Platonic solids. Instead it found beauty and intrigue in the emergent chaos that can arise from even the simplest systems.

Its building blocks are the five Platonic solids. Forms which have fascinated humanity for thousands of years. Their title comes from the philosophy of Plato, who equated each of the solids with a classical element.

Platonics arranges these forms in a series of geometric layouts, with varying density and randomness. At one extreme we see tidy radial circles consisting of a single solid. At the other, packed pentagons consisting of jumbled solids give rise to Escher-esque compositions which hold near infinite variety, variety enhanced by a range of pens and colours that draw and fill those solids.

This relationship between order and disorder is at the heart of Platonics. The collection seeks to show how they are not so far removed from one another – and how we might embrace them both. It also aims to give collectors a behind the scenes look at how generative compositions can be constructed.

The geometric proof that there are only five convex regular polyhedra (the Platonic solids) states that at each vertex of the solid the angles between adjacent sides must be less than 360 degrees. This amount less than 360 degrees is known as the defect angle.

It is from this geometric proof that the collection size and pricing for Platonics is derived. There will be 360 Platonics sold via a Dutch auction priced according to the defect angles of the five Platonic solids: 180 > 120 > 90 > 60 > 36.

https://www.phaust.art/platonics

Competition: Submit your favourite previews via Twitter to win a free mint and print.

Prints: Free gallery-grade, signed A3 prints for the first 18 mints.

Live: Press ‘S’ to save in hi-res or append '&size=#' to the URL for custom height.

Info: Original artwork by Phaust. Winter 2023. London / Brighton. Made with p5js.