Ron Brown - Fine Artist
Ron has a BA degree in mathematics (magna cum laude - William Jewell College, Liberty, MO), an MA degree in mathematics (University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS) and an M Ed degree (Montclair State University, Montclair, NJ). For nearly thirty years he has been a software engineer. For many years he has been fascinated by the complex patterns and structures that can evolve from a simple knight moving on a chessboard. Recently, he has begun to explore the possibilities that the puzzle, Sudoku, can provide as well as Bingo and scanned barcodes. His artistic expressions are, in essence, the result of numerical conversions.
He has been a presenter at several conferences dealing with the interdisciplinary approach to learning integrating art, math, science and technology. His ideas have appeared in several publications and in books by Dr. Clifford A. Pickover. In 1992, Leonardo - The Journal of the International Society of the Arts and Sciences, was the first to publish his ideas. In 1995 he was one of over 40 artists featured in a videotape produced by the late sculptor, Rob Fisher, entitled 'The Computer: A Tool for Sculptors'. He has been listed in Who’s Who in the East, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World. [View paper presented at Towson University, MD in 2002]
Over the years he has expanded his explorations of knight moves to include music, weaving and Islamic-style tiling patterns. His mind is full of ideas - of mammoth constructions, the use of lasers and computer-controlled sculptures utilizing motors, and more. Recently, he has begun to augment his explorations by utilizing the computer programming language, Processing, developed at MIT specifically for artists.
If one needs to categorize him, he would describe himself as a “computational” artist or a 'generative' artist. His artistic explorations can best be described as 'concrete art' as espoused by the Swiss artist, Max Bill, in the early to mid-twentieth century. He finds support for his approach by statements such as the following:
Pythagorus (570 BCE – 495 BCE): “Number is the measure of all things.”
Heraclitus (535 BCE – 475 BCE): The hidden harmony is better than the obvious one.”
Philolaus (470 BCE – 385 BCE): Number is the bond of the eternal continuance of things.”
Wassily Kandinsky: 'The final abstract expression of every art is number.'
Wassily Kandinsky: 'The more abstract is form, the more clear and direct is its appeal.'
Max Bill: 'I am of the opinion that it is possible to develop an art largely on the basis of mathematical thinking.'
Max Bill: 'Where does structure end and art begin?'
Cyril S. Smith: 'Everything that we can see, everything that we can understand is related to structure - perception is in patterns not fragments.'
