Within a Sphere 12,, 2015

Hong Kong 2015
Within a Sphere 12,

Athr

Work on Paper
Pencil, guache on paper
73.0 x 73.0 (厘米)
28.7 x 28.7 (吋)
Dana Awartani’s practice is preoccupied with how to translate universal truths through numbers, looking to sacred geometry as the underlying principle to the works. Exploring concepts of harmony and symmetry through geometry, she uses Islamic compositional design as her vehicle for expression. The work shown at Art Basel Hong Kong is a series of paintings based on the Platonic Solids, and ancient study of shapes based on Euclidean geometry. The Platonic solids are the most frequently studied shapes in history—what makes them particularly important is that they are considered as the only five ‘perfect’ shapes in three-dimensional space that derive from a sphere. They appear the same from any vertex, their faces are made of the same regular shape, and their vertices represent the most symmetrical distribution of the numbers four, six, eight, twelve and twenty on a sphere. Known since antiquity, geometers have studied their mathematical properties and been fascinated by their inherent beauty and symmetry for thousands of years. Taking direct inspiration from these forms, Awartani translates these three-dimensional shapes into two-dimensional paintings through their essential geometric principles for her Platonic Solids series. Each painting is based on the numerical value of the individual vertices of the platonic solids and the colours used are directly inspired by the four elements (earth, air, fire, water) and the heavens that Plato has attributed to each shape.