Hidden Messages in Artwork
A few years ago, I stumbled on a book called The Woman Who Smashed Codes: A True Story of Love, Spies, and the Unlikely Heroine Who Outwitted America’s Enemies by Jason Fagone. I love reading biographies and autobiographies, so I was happy to stumble upon a book about what seemed to be a really interesting, smart, and brilliant woman.
As I learned more about Elizebeth Smith Friedman and codebreaking, I got to thinking about the similarities of code breaking and pattern designing, my profession.
Being a pattern designer, I am always putting images in repeat. The basis of a cryptanalyst is someone who is looking for a repeat to then decode the message. This got me to thinking about having hidden messages in a collection of designs that I created for commercial interiors. I love the idea that a pattern can me more than just something visual.
I did five collections within “Cryptology Collections”: Radio Waves, Classified, Knowledge is Power, Top Secret, and R&R.
I recently started to incorporate this concept into my artwork. This piece is called “Elizebeth”. At first glance it looks like a lot of my other color studies, but this design is based on the Rosicrucian Cipher.
Try to translate it using the code below. Don’t scroll too fast, unless you want to see the answer.
Answer: Knowledge is Power