Mark Stock Studio

"Sprawl" is a digital image of a chaotic branch-like structure growing on and around a regular array of blocks. The form taken by the dark growth is from a simulation of a local surface-growth phenomenon called diffusion-limited aggregation. This piece contrasts two seemingly different growth patterns: one preconceived, designed, restrained, and considered artificial; the other impulsive, disorganized, unconstrained, and “natural.” Referring to both the creeping growth of the built environment and the tendency of species to brutally capitalize on evolutionary advantages, “Sprawl” suggests that the two forms of growth are really no different.