At Oriol-Art, our pictorial productions are built from "pictorial challenges," linked to the very essence of painting, and mathematical and algorithmic structures.
This creative approach gives rise to works of art that can be classified as "abstract geometric" art. They can be fascinating in their ability to transcend cultural and artistic boundaries, but also in their resonance between these fields.
Beyond the emotional response, they encourage the viewer to better understand the underlying concepts.
"Carré blanc sur fond blanc 1/26". Jean-Claude Oriol, 1991
Jean-Claude Oriol began his artistic productions in the 1980s.
He was greatly impressed by the art of M.C. Escher, particularly by the periodic filling of the plane and the connection with the seventeen groups of plane isometries, a concept he was exploring in mathematics.
Most abstract artists influenced his thinking, particularly Kazimir Malevitch, Piet Mondrian, François Morellet, Yves Klein, Albert Ayme, and other artists with diverse backgrounds and works of varying degrees of time and style.
A mathematician by training, he is naturally drawn to abstraction. But with each piece, he offers a response to a pictorial challenge. A common thread runs through his entire body of work, with the border as its main theme.
This is clearly the case with the "White Squares" series, and it is also the case with the "Magic Square" series, which guarantees a "magical" tonal combination. These two series are in keeping with the "constrained" literature found, for example, in the works of Georges Perec, a writer known personally to the artist.
He exhibited his work in 2001 at the GALLERIA SPAZIO VISIVO in Rome during the "grafica" exhibition.
The "Carrés Magiques" series uses the properties of magical squares and applies them to coloured squares. This results in various combinations: grey levels, overall spectrum, specific tones... The results are often intriguing for viewers because there is an inherent sense of balance without symmetry.
Based on Malevich's challenge "White square on white background", this set entitled "26 white squares on white backgrounds" was described in the book "Mathematiques et Art" book and during a conference in 1991. It gave rise to various color variations, some of which were exhibited at the GALLERIA SPATIO VISIVO in Rome.
As computers became more prevalent and image processing units available to artists, this series explored the deformation of squares until they re no more square. With the advent of AI and classifiers, this stays relevant as squares are quickly becoming round: a new twist to the classical "squaring the circle problem".
Manuel Oriol grew up in an environment where writers, poets, painters, and artists in general were always welcome. He always tried to understand how they performed their art and what he could take from them. His broad knowledge of computer science and his approach of art position him at the forefront of the
In the "Tri" series Manuel's approach is the opposite of how regular digital artists, instead of using or creating algorithms to generate intended images, he creates abstract artistic representation of the internal state of the algorithms. The resulting pieces of art are naturally balanced and exude the certitude that their construction is governed by a higher, but explainable purpose.
In the "Il n'y a pas de..." series, Manuel experiments with the rules of simultaneous contrasts presented 200 years ago by Eugene Chevreul. The intention is to use such rules to create colors in the eye of the viewer that are not printed on paper or visible on the screen.
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This series reuses bubble sort to show the evolution of the data structure over time in the form of colours. Note the diagonals that are characteristic of the position evolution of elements that are too far right.
This series reuses selection sort to and shows the evolution of the data structure over time in the form of colours. Note the perfect triangle at the bottom, which is characteristic of the algorithm, that always finds the highest element and puts it at the beginning.
This series reuses quick sort to show the evolution of the data structure over time in the form of colours. Note the leaky aspect that corresponds to the chosen element being put at the right place and then sorts out each side.
This series reuses merge sort and shows the evolution of the data structure over time. Note the building-like aspect due to the slow building of the proper order and then its merger.
As colours are juxtaposed, the brain creates colours that do not exist to create the contrast that allow us to distinguish shape. We use this mechanism to create colours out of nothing. Infringing on the old Lavoisier citation: "nothing is created, nothing is lost, everything is transforming"