Pass It On

Clement Valla's Studies Of Recursive Copying

by Stephen Von Worley on February 10, 2011

Remember the telephone game from grade school? The one where a phrase like “Billy plays a brown tuba” would whisper through a dozen kids and end up “Eat ten trays of ground loofah?” Back then, it was just plain fun.

The deeper philosophical lesson… well, honestly, it bounced off me like a kick ball. Shown Clement Valla’s A Sequence of Lines Traced by 500 Individuals (above) – I probably would have shrugged and mumbled something about squiggles. And his more elaborate Seed Drawings (below), the same thing, but scribbles:

Now, my brain is fully-formed, and it’s clear that Valla’s work elegantly captures the chaotic trajectories of cumulative human imperfection and whimsy.

So, Hallelujah Lord, for blessing me with “the miracle of wisdom.” Or, as they say in Telephonese: “the beer excels at twist on!”

[Clement Valla via Aaron Koblin]
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