CHRIS LANDAU DRAWING PRINT PAINTING MURAL INSTALLATION 3D VISUALIZATION ANIMATION INTERACTIVE DIGITAL LANDSCAPE DESIGN PARAMETRIC ABOUT  |  BLOG  |  TWITTER

My work examines the intersection between technology and the environment. I'm interested in how human-made systems must increasingly work together with existing systems such as biology and nature. I have always been inspired by complex systems of extreme scales. Of particular interest to me are the city and the cell, where density, aggregation, economy and organization seem to reform the very laws of physics. The city is massive and complex. Its residents and culture are full of diversity and strange order. So are cells influenced by the numerous flows of protein interactions and layered, organic structures. Both city and cell serve as diverse landscapes with pattern languages of their own kind. Although quite different, they embody similar types of complex processes. To reconcile these diverging images I have created a visual vocabulary of simple, abstract building blocks. I choreograph and recombine the elements of 'stick', 'mound', and 'mite' into arrangements that represent complexity. I work in a variety of mediums to embrace this complexity: 3D modeling, digital drawing, watercolor, printmaking, installation, web and animation. Central to all of these media is my use of color and form to reveal an invisible spectrum of dimensions. My primary tool recently has been parametric modeling, a digital way of creating models that allow for interconnected form-finding. I can tinker with the 'genetic code' of these systems to generate scalable diversities, informed permutations, networked parameters and complex architectures. While my work is an abstraction of natural systems, it aims to explore qualities and behaviors similar to these systems. I want to create a conceptual space where we can relate to complex systems outside of our usual user experience.