Andy Yang, Class of 2023

Origami Experience:

Andy is a 4th year undergraduate student studying computer science and linguistics. He has been thinking about recursion and its role as a concept in language, computation, and more recently, origami. Origami distinguishes itself from most other art mediums by being primarily transformative – unlike painting or wood-carving, no material is added or subtracted to the medium of origami paper, as the artist makes folds to transform the paper in its entirety. Thus, in order to gain expressivity from the paper, we need to reach deep into the square in order to draw out the physical forms we want. However, given the finite bounds of a square of paper, one may ask, how deep can we really reach? I suggest that by using recursive, fractal-like forms, we can extend the depth of the paper nearly to infinity, and achieve greater depths of expression. These works serve as a meditation on my idea of recursive fractal-driven origami design. I represented three estuary animals (Green Heron, the Yellowfin Goby, and the Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse) in origami form, but altered their forms slightly by accentuating the recursive structures used in their design.

Ultimately, while interesting, the above is mostly personal sophistry. I think the more important characteristic of origami, beyond its transformative nature, is the way it’s primarily considered as a children’s hobby. This is because it’s quite accessible – all you need is a sheet of paper – and that means that the art can be reimagined in the hands and hearts of anyone with an interest in paper-folding. It is in this spirit that I applied to be an artist, to share my love of origami with the community here at UChicago.

Models:

Green Heron
~20 in. Reynold’s Club Poster Paper
designed by Andy

Yellowfin Goby
10 in. Opret origami paper
designed by Andy

Salt Marsh Harvest Mouse
10 in. Biotope
designed by Andy with inspiration from Jun Maekawa