'One Hundred Views of a Metagon': Edition: Synopsis
This text is part of the full 'One Hundred Views of a Metagon' series and documents it. It
defines how each image in the series has been conceived as a
variation of the base theme, a Metagon. Each variation was first a
rendering vision, a concept, a style expressed in geometrical terms,
then written into code and eventually printed.
On the printed sheets bundled with the whole series, next to each
of the following item a small icon is printed, visual link from
the synopsis to the print it relates to.
One Hundred Views of a Metagon. First delivery.
1. The Theme. Note the elegance, power, energy and dynamism of the Theme: a genial Polyline chaining the last two vertices from an equilateral triangle, the last three vertices from a square, four vertices from a pentagon, etc... to the nth-gone, the last side of any *gone being also the first of the next one. I have not found that Max Bill mentioned his source for the theme, so he might well have created it.
2. View One, reference 052. The Theme to the 17th, adding the closing line for all polygons; the polygons are outlined in varying Grays from White to Black, then filled in varying colours from Yellow to Magenta to Cyan over a pale Blue grid.
3. View Two, reference 053. The lines of the Theme to the 17th are replaced by alternating over/under sets of thin half circles, rainbows coloured alternatively in varying hues from Cyan to White and from Black to Magenta.
4. View Three, reference 054. The Theme to the 64th defines a very thin spiral rendered in varying light to dark to light Grays over Deep Red.
5. View Four, reference 055. In the Theme to the 64th the canonical lines are replaced by connected half circles; these interlacing half circles are rendered by two black lines filled in a sequence of Black, White, Red, Blue and Ochre.
6. View Five, reference 056. The Theme is to the 77th; its canonical lines have been replaced by thin light Gray circles, and the missing polygon sides by thick half circles coloured in varying tones from Red to Blackish Red.
7. View Six, reference 057. Two series of Themes to the 27th are composited over each vertex of an underlying base Theme; each is of varying widths, outlined in varying Black to White and filled with varying Light Magenta to Light Cyan, a Mauve and Light Blue Hexline.
8. View Seven, reference 058. Assemble four Themes to the 47th in a cross pattern, only retaining their vertices; join with a straight line the corresponding vertices from the north to the south theme, and from the west to the east theme, colouring each line with a varying Gray from light to dark over light Gray, a four-leaved Black clover.
9. View Eight, reference 059. At each vertex of a simple Theme to the 4th rendered in fine Red line, draw one horizontal and one vertical thick Black line, then choose a few suitable rectangles and fill them with colours in memories of Pietr Mondrian's later works.
10. View Nine, reference 060. Six Themes to the 11th are rendered alternatively in bold and fine Black lines, placed with a slight constant offset, reminding of the 'Graphic Tectonic' and the 'Structural Constellation' series of drawings by josef albers.
11. View Ten, reference 061. Small Themes to the 4th are rendered in Black and translated to each vertex of a Theme to the 11th.
12. View Eleven, reference 062. All the segments of a Theme to the 128th are replaced by thin Black circles. While the implicit arrangement of the multitude of circles by the Theme is extremely complex, a wave of higher concentrations defines a clear spiral in delicate Hues of Grays reminiscent of a delicate graphite drawing.
13. View Twelve, reference 063. Minimal Black crosses mark the vertices of the Theme to the 172nd and evoke strongly certain early studies by Pietr Mondrian and Michael Noll's Computer Composition with Lines series (1965).
14. View Thirteen, reference 064, Graphite Nautilus I. This is a development of Max Bill's 11th variation; the Theme is followed to the 77th, and the original Black lines are evolved into varying Grays from Black to White, covering the previous lines as they happens, ending here with White lines. The simple dynamics of the Theme, and the delicate rendering of the very fine Gray lines does all.
15. View Fourteen, reference 065, Printing with White! A development of Max Bill's 4th Variation with thicker lines in varying Colours, finally overlaid with a set of White radial lines.
16. View Fifteen, reference 066. The intricate interlacing lines result from multiple replications of the Theme to the 27th along the vertices of a Theme at the 33rd, with the lines at their faintest possible width are in varying hues from Cyan to Black.
17. View Sixteen, reference 067, Graphite Nautilus II. This is akin to View Fourteen, choosing shorter cut lengths for the almost radial lines and a different Grays variation mode for the lines, such as drawing darker lines last.
18. View Seventeen, reference 068. A short and shy Theme to the 7th modestly vanishes into the background, a toned down grid a la Agnes Martin.
19. View Eighteen, reference 069. A stark Theme at the 4th is rendered in concentric equidistant lines of alternating Black and White: Geometry Painting of the fifties and sixties.
20. View Nineteen, reference 070. This is derived directly from Max Bill's ninth variation: while all his were built on the Theme at the 8th, this one extends to the 32th, revealing what was totally absent from the 1938 variations, the outward spiral build up from the Theme as it evolves to higher dimensions.
21. View Twenty, reference 071. This is derived directly from Max Bill's second variation: this time we use a very short Theme not extending beyond the square, and revealing a tense, simple construction.
22. View Twenty-One, reference 072. Small Themes to the 5th are rendered in Black and translated to each vertex of a Theme to the 27th.
23. View Twenty-Two, reference 073. The Theme is extended to the 192th polygon, represented by a thin faint line started in Magenta and varying to end in Cyan. This line is almost imperceptible, and is a quasi spiral expanding clockwise. As it expands, the spacing of the spiral arcs varies with regularity, and the concentration of closer arcs increase their visibility and actually builds a second spiral, virtual but more visible, which is counter clockwise.
24. View Twenty-Three, reference 074. This is derived from Max Bill's sixth variation: again, the Theme extends not to the 8th but to the 62th so that the virtual spiral manifests itself clearly as a density wave, and a dark Gray background accompanies the interlacing of the concentric half circles which are Black, White and Cyan.
25. View Twenty-Four, reference 075, Graphite Nautilus III. This is akin to Views Fourteen and Seventeen, choosing another cut lengths and another Grays variation mode for the lines. The intersections of the myriad of lines and their changing density create explicit and implicit spirals made of points, or of zones of perceived gray intensities as the faintest lines dissolve into the White of the paper.
Glossary
Polyline A continuous Line made by joining consecutive Points named Vertices by straight Segments.
Metagon A Polyline which unlike the closed regular Polygon, is an open regular Polyline. Max Bill's Theme is the most dense and tense of the possible Metagons.
Varying Colours or Grays Here, a variation in Colours defined by a mathematical formula based on rank, position or other intrinsic properties.