Artist Statement

 

I am K Lars Lohn, a retired software engineer with a long career spanning nearly forty-five years. Having always considered myself to be just an engineer with little understanding of art; my self image changed dramatically recently.

In 2015, nearing the apex of my career as a programmer, my artistic saudade collided with an iPad and an Apple Pencil. With no aspirations, I started playing with a drawing app. I couldn't put it down. Five months later, I was invited to have an art show at a local gallery.

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Suddenly, the intellectual processes that I use in programming have an outlet using media that is actually visible. I may have been artistic or, even poetic, in my work with programming languages, but it was only ever seen by a few other programmers in passing and, clearly, the computers just didn't care.

I am an artist that uses mathematical graph theory to create mazes. My works are intricate drawings rendered as large prints. It's all about creating textures using uniformly thick lines and then coloring those lines to create an image. Each piece, drawn by hand, is a single branching path, folded against itself, twisted and stretched. There is exactly one path between any two points. The paths form the textures. The color provides the shading. Together they make the image.

Making mathematically perfect mazes by hand ►

My tool chain is digital. I draw using an app on the iPad using my Apple Pencil.  All the lines are drawn and planned by hand using the digital version of a felt tip marker. The color is applied with use of airbrushes, smearing tools and photo filtering effects.

On average, it takes a several weeks to make one drawing. Some of my more recent intricate works have taken significantly more.
I don't know where this creative ability came from, but I acquired my skill for hyper-focus from forty years of programming.

Interested in purchasing a print?
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Support Me on Patreon ►

Keeping up income during my unexpected early retirement has not been easy. The galleries that used to sell my art did not survive the pandemic. I've turned to Patreon in an attempt to create a stream of income that can keep up with the medical bills. Even small amounts are helpful and I appreciate your support.

This peaceful video is typical of my creative process.
I sit quietly in my yurt in a comfortable chair
and listen to the sounds of nature around me.
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