ShapeVision Art : Martin Brooks

Welcome to ShapeVision Art — exploring the expressive power of Extreme Vector Graphics™ and illuminating Hidden Shapes of Nature®.

ShapeVision is printed art.

Please contact me to learn more and to purchase or rent prints.

Click on each picture to see close-up.

Swipe or click picture edge to move to next picture.

All pictures copyright Martin Brooks 2018-2024.

Quiet City

ShapeVision painterly Ottawa nights seen through traffic cams. Source pictures courtesy City of Ottawa Open Data.

Georgian Bay

It is a privilege and pleasure to render Canada"s classic landscape with Extreme Vector Graphics™.

People

Portraits are a challenging and rewarding area for ShapeVision.

Occupation 2022

I visited Parliament Hill during the 2022 Ottawa occupation, and also used traffic cams to monitor the situation.

Album Covers

Fun with a favourite medium.

Phase Transition

Exploring the edge of disappearing snow as the season changes.

Hidden Shapes of Nature®

ShapeVision captures the fractal geometry of nature. A primary artistic focus for solo work and also 2018-19 collaboration with Ross Photography and ShapeVision partner John Spence.

ShapeVision math seems out of reach to many people (see here if you are curious), but may be easily understood as follows:

The math treats each pixel of a source photo as if it were elevation data for a topographic map, with contour lines of equal brightness. Certain contour lines are selected to appear in the picture as the boundaries of shapes. Each shape has a single colour, determined by the colours of the source image pixels within. The artist controls the transformation from pixels to shapes using software dials and sliders, resulting in a wide range of vector graphics to use in artworks.

ShapeVision is easy to use: Photo in, vector graphics out. ShapeVision creates extreme vector graphics, comprising 10,000 - 100,000 shapes, many having thousands of boundary points. Extreme Vector Graphics™ is a new artistic medium.

ShapeVision inkjet prints reveal sharp shapes down to printer resolution. Below, see the view of the print surface through a 20x optical microscope; the shape details you see here are barely visible to the naked eye.

20x print detailclick photo for closeup

September 2022 - present Saint-Vincent Hospital, Ottawa

Six large pieces (3x5foot) for hospital patients and staff.

Saint-Vincent Hospital
Saint-Vincent Hospital
Saint-Vincent Hospital
click photos for closeups

2020 - 2024 Pandemic Neighbourhood Art Hidden Shapes of Nature® in Manotick

Social art, convening neighbours to discuss art, life, and the universe.

Manotick
Manotick
Manotick
Manotick
click photos for closeups

24 August 2019 Hidden Shapes of Nature® Outdoor Exhibition

One hundred guests, seven large pieces (3x5foot), fifteen smaller pieces (22x17inch), in a beautiful garden.

24 August 201924 August 2019
24 August 201924 August 2019
24 August 201924 August 2019
click photos for closeups