Digital artist uses mathematics to 'paint' flowers

The exotic blooms that don’t exist: Paralysed digital artist uses mathematics to ‘paint’ realistic flowers you can almost smell

• Pieces were created by Daniel Brown after he became paralysed from shoulder down following a swimming accident
• Mr Brown uses complex algorithms and 3D technology that is more commonly used for computer games and films
• The technique means that the realistic-looking flowers grow on screen like time-lapse documentary photography
• He was inspired by Sir D’Arcy Thompson who argued that nature could reflect physical and mathematical principles

By Rachel Reilly

Published: 10:20 BST, 19 November 2013 | Updated: 17:00 BST, 19 November 2013

You might admire these exotic-looking bouquets dripping with delicate blooms, but you’ll never be able to buy one.

This is because the flowers do not exist — they are entirely the product of complex mathematical equations teamed with an artist’s imagination.

London-based designer and digital artist Daniel Brown recently created the portfolio of strange posies for an installation at the D’Arcy Thompson Zoology Museum at the University of Dundee.

‘I have been working on my flower series since around 2000,’ Mr Brown told MailOnline.

‘I realised that floral animation was a way that advanced computer technology could be related back to everyday culture.’

In 2003, however, Mr Brown suffered a devastating spinal injury following a swimming accident that left him paralysed from the shoulders down.

‘It meant I could no longer draw or paint, but was fortunately still able to use an adapted computer,’ he said.

‘My flowers took on an extra significance then; by creating these flowers I could still create art.’

Mr Brown, who is unable to hold a pen, used cutting edge 3D technology that is more commonly used for computer games and cinema features.

Mr Brown uses a baseline algorithm to create a flower form that he adapts each time to create new, individual ‘species’  — with no two flowers ever looking the same.

The ‘photographs’ were commissioned by the University Museum Services with grant funding from the Art Fund.

The work uses shapes and textures taken from and inspired by exhibits in the museum and is part of the museum’s ‘Renew’ programme’.

Mr Brown was inspired by Sir D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson’s use of mathematical drawings to explain biology.

‘I find inspiration in many places,’ said Mr Brown. ‘Much of my work involves working on computer graphics for fashion, and through that often see a shape or texture, or even just the way light falls on an object- and think it would look fantastic on a flower.’

‘In many ways it is like creating artificial life.’

The current series was originally entitled ‘On Growth and Form’ in homage to D’Arcy Thompson’s pioneering book written in 1915.

In this book, Sir Thompson argued that biological form, and in turn evolutionary principles, could be explained with mathematical principles.

Previous pieces from Mr Brown’s series have been exhibited at the London Design Museum and a three-story-high projected version was commissioned by the Victoria & Albert as the entrance feature for their ‘Decode — Digital Art Sensations’ show that took place from December 2009 to April 2010.

Mr Brown was voted Designer of the Year in 2004 — the year after Apple’s head of computer design Jonathan Ive was also awarded this major national accolade.

‘Daniel Brown’s work changes the way we look at and engage with digital imagery,’ said Mr Ive. ‘It is technically innovative and emotionally engaging, but also gives us an extraordinary amount of freedom in the way we experience it.’