I recently realized that I just don’t care anymore. I don’t care if fractal art is Real Art (tm), if algorithmic art is fractal art, or if digital art is fine art. I don’t care if digital prints are multiple originals, reproductions, giclees, photographs, limited editions, or edited limitations. I don’t care if my art is any good, if your art is any good, if any art is any good. I don’t care if real mathematicians think I’m a fake for playing with pictures and not having a degree in math or if real artists think I’m a fake for playing with numbers and not having a degree in art. I don’t care if the “fractal elite” are personally leading a conspiracy to take over the world (although I think it’s cool that Damien Kenobi has apparently perfected the Fractal Jedi Mind Trick).
That’s not to say that I don’t care about anything, or even that I don’t care about my art. It’s just that after 20+ years playing with fractals, chaos, complex analysis, number theory, numerical analysis, image processing, computer programming, geometry, algebra, and calculus, I know what I like, I know what I like to do, and I’m very good at what I do. I don’t need others to tell me what is real, good, or valid. I create what I want to create and study what I want to study because that’s what I want to do. That’s the beauty of both art and mathematics—one is free to create their own way. If others accept it, then that may make it more popular or more useful, but it doesn’t make it right. If no one else accepts it, that doesn’t make it wrong. My art makes me happy; it fulfills my need, it keeps me up all hours, it is my passion.
My art--it’s my joy of apathy. I hope you find yours, if you haven’t already.