BENDING
LINES
THE SCULPTURE OF ROBERT WIGGS
ABOUT THE FILM
Nearing the end of his life, sculptor Robert Wiggs looks back on a lifelong obsession with patterns. Never formally trained in mathematics, Wiggs studied mud cracks, bee hives, and tree bark to create a geometric system that rivals the work of academic mathematicians, a system which he expressed and explored in scores of sculptures.
Bending Lines is a story of obsession, of vision, and of the enduring conversation between art and science. It uncovers an amateur mathematician, obscured by time and his profession, whose work communicates the universal quest to discover the essence of the natural world.
"This documentary is a love letter to intellectual curiosity."
-Jason Andreassen, Executive Director, Baton Rouge Gallery Center of Contemporary Art
"Bending Lines demonstrates that thinking logically and systematically while exploring experimentally can lead to inspiring new directions in art just as in science or any other field."
-George Hart, American Geometer and Sculptor, Co-Founder of Museum of Mathematics
"Fine art practitioners are the embodiment of creativity and freedom, so it is natural that the art of Robert Wiggs is presented in the film by a free, lively and flexible form."
-Éva Demeter, Alexandre Tranuer Art/Film Festival
Inspired by the geometry of nature—from the cracks in dried mud to the structure of pine cones to the scales on armadillos—Wiggs’s artistic process reveals the intriguing interplay between mathematics and art.
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