Fibonacci Matryoshka - Gauthier Cerf Art

Details

The Fibonacci matryoshka consists of Fibonacci cubes and Fibonacci squares. The cubes are again made up of new, smaller Fibonacci cubes and squares. Light and color are an important part of the sculpture. The complex interior is made visible through the coloured transparent Plexiglas shell of the cubes, which create a fascinating kaleidoscopic image. As a result, the sculpture changes its appearance like a chameleon depending on the lighting, which sets changing accents directly and indirectly, from inside and outside.

The Fibonacci matryoshka radiates simplicity, clarity and lightness, yet still displays finesse and sophistication. The haptics of the cubes, the interior views and many mirror effects make the sculpture tangible for people.

Fibonacci Cubes

The Fibonacci Cubes collection shows arrangements of Fibonacci cubes and cuboids.

A Fibonacci cube is a cube whose side length corresponds to a Fibonacci number (e.g. 89 x 89 x 89 cm). A Fibonacci cuboid is a cuboid whose side lengths (length, width, height) correspond to three consecutive Fibonacci numbers (e.g. 89 x 55 x 34 cm).

Fibonacci cubes have a wonderful property: each Fibonacci cube can be built from two smaller Fibonacci cubes positioned in diametrically opposite corners and three identical Fibonacci cuboids that encompass the two smaller cubes.

Arrangement

The Fibonacci matryoshka is created by stacking several disassembled Fibonacci cubes inside each other. Each cube takes on the role of a single matryoshka figure, with the top rear cube representing the head and the cuboids forming the torso, in which the next smaller baby figure is located. This process can be continued recursively to form a descending diagonal staircase of smaller and smaller Fibonacci matryoshkas down to the smallest of them.

In the 89 x 89 x 89 cm Fibonacci matryoshka shown here, 10 matryoshka figures are nested inside each other.

Matryoschkas

A matryoshka or matryoshka doll is a children’s toy and often an art collector’s item consisting of a series of small human-shaped figures carved from wood. Each hollow figure can be separated in the middle into a lower and an upper part. The next smaller figure appears inside, which in turn can be taken apart to carry another figure, and so on until the smallest figure is born (see below).

The inside of a matryoshka (Foto: pxhere.com / CC0 public domain)

Origin

Matryoshkas originated in Russia in the late 19th century. That is why they are also called Russian dolls. Early forms consisted of eight figures and depicted peasant women and girls in traditional Russian dress. Hence the name Matryoshka, a diminutive of the Russian female name Matryona, which in turn goes back to the Latin word mater – for mother.

Symbolism

Matryoshkas have many strong symbolic meanings. The name refers to the symbol of motherhood. The inside points to many children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren etc. and thus to family and fertility. It is also a sign of the flow of life and time over many generations.

Cubes in Nature

Alongside the sphere, the cube is one of the purest spatial forms in nature. Cubes occur, for example, in metals with a cubic crystal lattice and show wonderful natural sculptures with often intergrown cubes (see picture on the right: cube-shaped, intergrown pyrite crystals from the Ampliación a Victoria de Navajún mine, La Rioja, Spain).

Foto by JJ Harrison (https://www.jjharrison.com.au/) – Own work, provided under the CC BY-SA 3.0 Licence.