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.
Film by Makemade
Directors: Peter DeHart, Allison Bohl DeHart
Producer: Lisa Osborn
Director of Photography: Matt S. Bell and Allison Bohl DeHart
Music Composition: Chad Viator
Camera Operators: Matt S. Bell, Allison Bohl DeHart, Peter DeHart, Sean Manuel, Kristie Cornell
Visual Effects: Jon-David Mahoney and Trevor Navarre
Sound Mastering: Danny Reisch and Max Lorenzen
Editing: Allison Bohl DeHart and Peter DeHart
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.
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.