Like many pieces, this one started with a humble cube. Here we see such a cube, waiting to burst into its full potential.
A little easier said than done. My technique was 1) marking the location for the lines, 2) using a rotary tool with a router base to “engrave” the lines, 3) painting the cube white, being careful to fill in the lines, 4) painting the cube black, being careful not to fill in the lines, and 5) adding a little ink to the whole thing to give it a little extra flavor.
As you can see here (look at the closest corner in the image), the tricky part is making those lines cross over the faces and still be consistent.
Here is the piece from all angles:
The final stand was made from charred wood and colored resin. I’ve used the basic design for supports with a couple of other pieces, but I wanted there to be an interesting transition in materials, from something gritty and destroyed (the burnt wood), through something ethereal (the luminous resin), to the refined surface of the cube.
While I was giving this piece its title, I found this article which proposes a notations for iterations of functions. The character in question is the one that looks like a backward N. It makes sense for me to use it in titles for these pieces and it adds an extra dash of mathiness.