While art is often defined as an imitation of nature, nature is often an improvement on art.
Check out these grains of sand:
Or this view of the microstructure of austenitic steel.
If the above had been painted by a Cubist in the teens or twenties, it would probably be hanging in a museum. Instead, it’s used in teaching metallurgy.
I tried to copy nature by casting it directly into aluminum:
Whether that’s an improvement, I don’t know. It will definitely last longer than the mess I painstakingly pulled out of the mold a week after I set it up.
Comments
2 responses to “The nature of imitation”
I am unaccountably thrilled by pretty rocks and other of Nature’s detritus.
[…] casting, you will have an interesting art piece. Which you would, and which I, as someone who has done aluminum casting, can […]