The artworks reproduced here are from my book (W. Roberts, 2003), edited and reformatted for the web and with some additional commentary or interactive modules in parts.
Sotto Voce
A covert scale structure painting, 1996-1997
Watercolour on Arches paper 300gsm, cold-pressed; 72 cm (h) x 102 cm (w),
© 1996 Wayne Roberts. All rights reserved. Private collection.
The geometric overlay [which shows on mouse-over of image and may take a while to be visible over slower connections] reveals the syntactical connection to the underlying scale structure of the composition which is based on the famous Cairo tessellation of horizontal and vertical interlocking elongated hexagons. This grid contains 120° tri-junctions and also 90° quad-junctions. The syntax rules I invoked in the composition allowed for asymptotic-type junctions of (otherwise intuitive) forms at the 90° junctions, and for vertices of two or more shapes to meet at the 120° tri-junction node points. These regular intervals and angles are incompletely attached to the overt image, as in music, where notes may ‘tie over’ the regular metric of bar-lines creating a syncopated feel.