“wave, particle, string” is the title of the exhibition at the Elizabeth Dee gallery featuring the collaborative work of Sarah Parke and Mark Barrow.

I was walking across West 20th street when I spotted this great great mosaic in the front window of the gallery. Created by applying tiny squares of black, red, green, and blue vinyl directly to the glass, it forms a grid based on the Cartesian coordinate system. Inside the gallery there is a diverse selection of work consisting of woven textiles, painting and videos. I found the “Swipe paintings” particularly interesting.

Barrow and Parke are interested in the organization within systems of data. Taking small patterns of geometric information and repeating them through framework of the Cartesian grids, the results are both complex and ordered. In the “swipe” paintings the color changes are based on the finger swipes Barrow has made drawing on an iPad. This reinforces the link between the mathematical elements of the work and technology.

Susan Happersett