K. E. Landry
THE
ARTISTs DOGMA
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K. E. Landry is a graphic artist who has set his own artistic
challenge: to follow the path of the late Dutch tessellation master, M. C.
Escher.This eye-catching style, called “tessellation,” involves dividing a
flat surface into geometric shapes which interlock without gaps or overlaps.
This process, the regular division of the plane, results when a plane is
divided into patterns of congruent figures or objects. These patterns, though
arbitrarily confined to paper or canvas, can theoretically extend to
infinity. It is a technique requiring great control of artistic media,
patience, and above all, an innate sense of spatial relations.
Dr. Landry’s works combine this careful juxtaposition of objects
with complimentary colors to challenge the viewer’s perceptions. His
creations are the result of decades of intensive auto didactic study and
practice. Since 1994, Landry has ventured beyond the limitations of
two-dimension media and concentrated on designing and adapting
his tiled patterns to the surfaces of paper Polyhedral models, often using
several permutations, to provide a contiguous tiling of the “enhanced”
3-Dimensional model. The results are a blend of origami, graphic art, and the
geometrical foundation of natural structure. These visually stunning models
are collectively known as “Decorated Polyhedra”.
Dr. Landry discovered visual art while he was enrolled at the
University of Washington School of Dentistry between 1969 and 1973. In
reading about the life of Vincent Van Gogh, he became fascinated with the
challenge of the artistic discipline. He plunged into studies of
Impressionism, the Barbizone School, Post-Impressionism and Pointillism.
His research took him to museums and collections, where he viewed and
analyzed the works of Van Gogh, Seurat, Signac, Pissarro, Sisely and Monet.
He also began to sketch and paint with watercolors and acrylics.
In 1972, he became aware of the intricate tiling prints of M.C. Escher. In
characteristic fashion, he has enthusiastically studied every book available
on Escher and the phenomena of tessellation.
After graduation from dental school, Dr. Landry continued to explore
artistic techniques. When he wasn’t practicing general dentistry in his
office on Seattle’s Queen Anne Hill, he was painting sketching and
experimenting with new technology. For example, he discovered ways to blend
Xerography with graphic art. He also began to develop his own technique to
produce regular division works.
His artistic pursuits continued with his global travels as a Dental
Officer in the U.S. Navy. He enlisted to pursue residency training in
Prosthodontics. From 1978 to 1988, Dr. Landry saw a variety of duty stations:
southern California; Guam; Groton, CT; Bethesda, MD; and Yokosuka, Japan.
Each transfer created new opportunities to visit great museums and
collections. He studied artwork in New York City, Boston, Washington DC ,
Chicago, San Francisco and Tokyo.
While stationed at the Submarine Base, Groton, he met and married his wife,
Carol, who today is his business manager and greatest
supporter.Their experience in Japan was particularly influential. The
Japanese work ethic, education system and structured orderliness provided an
indelible impression and invaluable experience. During this period, frequent
visits to the nearby Tokyo art museums and galleries expanded his
appreciation into the
wood block print variety. Of particular interest was the line and intense
color of the vegetable inks used by the ukiyo-e artists of Japan.
Dr Landry’s tessellation work has been selected for many juried art shows,
has won several awards, and was included in the poster presentation program
for the Escher Centenary Conference in Rome, Italy during the summer of 1998,
and the Escher Foundation Ex Libris competition in Baarn, The Netherlands, in
October of 1998. In the year 2000, two of his tessellation decorated
polyhedra were included in the “Escher Extransensory Museum” show, which
travelled extensively throughout Japan.
Geometry and Art
My work combines the precise juxtaposition of natural creatures and the use
of complimentary colors to challenge the viewer’s perceptions. The inventory
of images I have developed is dynamic. Currently I have more than 120 planar
tessellation images which are the result of having been inspired by the work
of the recognized master of regular division, M.C. Escher, which I first
viewed in 1972. In 1985, when home computer graphic applications were just
begining to appear, I shifted my techique from a drafting table to a computer
mouse and screen to design my tessellation images. The precesion and labor
saving features of working in a digital format has allowed me to layout,
edit, and complete my images with exactness that was never possible with
pencil and paper. All my tessellation images are archived in digital format.
Although I consider myself dysfunctional in the area of mathematics, I do
have a good ability for spatial relations. In 1994, after assembling paper
models of Escher’s work adapted for decorating the surface of polyhedra by
Doris Schattschneider (Kalidocycles), I ventured beyond the limitations of
two-dimensional tessellations and have since designed my planar patterns with
symmetry that allows both, tiling of the two dimensional plane, and, by
permutation, a contiguous tiling on symmetrical three dimensional solids. A
tessellation extends in two dimensions out to infinity. I find this
fascinating. There are limitations imposed when working with two-dimensional
media. If I create a graphic tiling pattern on a sheet of paper and then
transform the flat sheet into a cylinder so that the repeating pattern
continues without interruption while the cylinder rotates around its long
axis, endlessness is achieved in only one dimension. My solution to resolving
the “infinity” problem was to design planar tessellation images with spatial
symmetry that permits excising portions from the flat design, and folding
them so they become three-dimensional isosceles pyramid forms which, when over
laid (Elevatum) or inlaid (Invaginatum) onto the surface of complex
polyhedra, the image remains contiguous, and, as the decorated polyhedra is
turned and rotated, the motif has no apparent beginning or end and thus
provides the illusion that it extends to infinity in three-dimensions."
Kenneth E. Landry
Seattle, Washington
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