Metamorphosis

By Miao Xiaochun    July 26, 2011

Translated by Hao Yanjing

Ever since 2008, I became interested in the deformation functions of three-dimensional software. The interesting feature of such deformation is that it can permanently maintain the precise relationship of the original model while changing its form; no matter how an object is distorted, it still looks like its original model. I’m interested in the following deformations:

The first one is “deformation by lattice”. I like to convert the model into lattices and then simplify it a little. This way, the lattices seem a bit more chaotic instead of being standard. It is not too dizzy to look at the lattices of one model, but when several figures are overlapped together, it is very complicated and it makes me dizzy. This is because usually we do not observe things in this way; this is similar to observing three-dimensional objects, thus I have to stare at it without a blink in order to distinguish the images within a three-dimensional space. This kind of observation draws my attention and allows me to use topological lines to restore original objects; it interests me, so I think it must interests other audience as well; therefore, I decided to use it to make animations and paintings.

The second thing that attracts me is “color channel”. At the beginning, the purpose of this kind of channel is to give each model a different color in order to differentiate each model; all of those colorful objects being together is already very interesting – colorful, abstract and yet concrete, a slight taste of Les Fauves; similar to Matisse’s paper-cuts, yet much more complicated. This kind of complication does not frighten me; I can use vector lines to separate these colors one by one. When I carve these vector lines on self-adhesive with the cutting plotter and then transpost them onto canvas, I can even paint flat colors one by one in an orderly manner. It is a sea of colors when I use them to create animation.

The third thing that interests me is the “overlapping effects of rhombuses generated by deformation of lattice points”. It can be very strange, just like genetic mutation. In Metamorphosis – Supper, a plane emitting unknown gas flies over the dinner table, then food changes their forms and people also change their forms, for in our era, I don’t know what is suitable to eat and what is dangerous to eat.

Therefore, the deformation functions of software gradually become some sort of art language; this is more important and this is what makes me interested.