Koos Verhoeff - mathematical art

[werk] [informatie]

Werk

Borromean Rings		Fractal tree bronze
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The Dancer bronze		Octahedron Made Of Eight Knots wood

Copyright © 1998, Tom Verhoeff. All pictures taken by Tom Verhoeff with a Ricoh RDC-2 digital camera, afterwards slightly edited.

Informatie
Born in Holland in 1927, Koos Verhoeff approaches his artistic designwork with a background in mathematics and computer science. After studying at the Universities of Leiden and Amsterdam, Koos went on to work at the Mathematical Center in Amsterdam (1952-1957) and the Delft University of Technology.
During that time the Dutch artist M.C. Escher frequented the Mathematical Center to research many of the mathematical principles he applied to his work.
Inspired by Escher, Verhoeff became interested in the great potential for mathematical applications to artwork.

In 1971 he accepted a professorship in computer science at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam, where he gained a reputation for promoting the use of the computer as a tool for teaching, recreation, and art. Verhoeff used the computer to solve computational design problems in the collaborative work he did with another Dutch artist, Popke Bakker.

After his retirement from the university in 1988, Verhoeff began devoting his time to the discovery and development of artistic structures based on geometric principles, such as lattice con-figurations and fractal formations. He has described himself as more of an explorer and a discoverer than a designer. He won-ders and wanders about the abstract world of mathematical structures, looking for forms with intriguing mathematical pro-perties as well as aesthetic appeal.

In 1991 Anton Bakker, an engineer in the USA, and Kevin Gallup, a ceramics sculptor and metal-worker, began rendering many of Verhoeff’s designs in bronze and aluminium. In 1992 they showed their work at an art and mathematics conference in New York. There, they met wood craftsman and furniture maker Jane Greenberg, a former mathematics student, who was fascinated by the exhibit and has since been executing work in wood based on Verhoeff’s designs.

Meer informatie
- Expositions of Mathematical Art by Koos Verhoeff (website TUe, Eindhoven)
- Tom Verhoeff: Wiskunde achter de kunst van Koos Verhoeff (in De Waaier 3, sep. 1998 / PDF-bestand, 414Kb)
- Arabesk: Ruimtelijke meetkunde (Arabesk - Rotterdam)