CHRIS KOSTER AT VINOPOLIS GALLERY
An exhibition of the extraordinary mathematical art of Chris Koster is tucked away on the elbow of Mill Road and Devonshire. It has to be the tiniest gallery space in the city but inside its close confines, the breathtaking world of infinity opens up within its walls. The experience of these works of art is literally like no other. Unique is an over-used word - but in the case of these baffling but beautiful pieces, apt. The art and its concepts are awesome, just to be in their presence evokes a wondrous feeling, akin to gazing at a carefully displayed lump of rock from the Moon. Its provenance provides the tingle factor. And this artist’s realm does take your breath away.
Chris Koster hails from a family of traditional artists, well known for wildlife print. His uncle is David Koster whose work has featured in the Royal Academy. But Chris could not be further from the corporeal observable world.
Quite simply he is the very first artist to work entirely in mathematics. He uses them, it, to create the abstract images that hover like multi-coloured giant amoebae around the gallery. Scientists can now step forward with a massive advantage. For the rest of us this concept lives in a hidden realm that we seldom explore.
You were warned but here goes : a single mathematical formula defined in a high dimensional space sources the image, determines its shape and even its colours. Even I know that Einstein (and who are we to quibble with him?) decreed there are not three but four dimensions , the fourth is Time. But apparently that’s not the end of it. In this high dimensional sphere there are more dimensions, as one mathematician explained to a mystified me “ How do you mean how many? From five to – infinity”
So glad we’ve got that sorted out.
Working with this one formula known only to Chris Koster himself, he has produced these individual compositions which he treats with a high temperature infusion of pigment into polymer coated aluminium to achieve an intense vibrant image .
Do Not Ask ‘ Yes, but what are they really?’
Do Ask ‘What happens at the perimeters?’