The Art on Paper Fair was held earlier this month on Pier 36 in Manhattan. There were a few large scale site-specific installations. LAMINAproject presented Shanthi Chandrasekar’s Entropy: Macrostates & Microstates. The work features 36 systems of paper circles with holes punched in them. The randomness of the hand punched holes in each circle is reduced as the circles get smaller.
The circles have been suspended from the ceiling with clear wires that allow them to move.
The overlapping patterns create complex patterns exploring both entropy as well the concept of positive and negative space. It was wonderful to see such a fantastic use of all white paper to create what felt like a living 3-dimensional environment.
This past weekend the huge yearly art extravaganza, The Armory Show was held at the Javitz Center in Manhattan. There were more galleries than ever this year presenting a cornucopia of interesting art. I noticed more paintings than I had seen in one place in a long time, ranging from figurative to abstract.
Rebecca Ward – Wave Forms i-v
Wave Forms i-v by Rebecca Ward at the Ronchini Gallery is an amazing series of acrylic, dye and flashe on canvas. To me they resemble trigonometric curves: Sine, Cosine, Tangent. The most interesting aspect of these paintings is the places where the curves seem disjointed. Ward creates a type of mathematical collage of curves.
There were a number of installation works at the show. The Templon Gallery presented Polka (2022), a neon and mirrored work by Ivan Navarro. The work was a tunnel, with mirrored walls and ceiling. On top of the grid Navarro layered two sets of circle grids. The grid of orange circles are intertwined with a grid of teal circles. The mirror intensifies the light and produces repetition.
Ivan Navarro – Polka – 2002
There was not a lot of digital work in the show but Berg Contemporary exhibited the Iris prints “Wave Form Studies IV” important work by Woody Vasulka from 1977-2003. Woody and his wife Steins are ground breaking artists using electronic signals. The 3-D effects Of the Wave Forms work were achieved with a Rutt/Etra scan processor. It is hard to tell from a photo but in person these prints really look like undulating sculptures.
Woody Vasulka – Wave Forms
I really enjoyed my time at the Armory Show and as always I was happy to see some art work with mathematical connections.
Well it Is back to school time so I have decided to return to writing my blog. This summer I was lucky enough to attend my first in person conference since early 2020. The Bridges Math Art Organization hosted there a 2022 conference in Helsinki Finland. It was a really great conference with many interesting lectures , workshops , and an impressive art exhibition. There were quite a few amazing pieces on display throughout the gallery. Way too many to mention them all so I chose a few.
Petronio Bendito – Color Code, Black and White 01 – Digital Print – 50 x 50 cm – 2022
Petronio Bendito’s 2022 digital print Color Code, Black and White 01 has been algorithmically generated using 32 colors. I like the expressive nature of this image. The stark contrast from the black lines to the explosion of the hundreds of colored strokes offers a sense of emotionally frenzy not often seen in mathematically art.
Melle Stoel’s 2021, sculpture Yazdah is constructed from a series of PLA 3D printed pieces held together with magnets. This is an ingenious way to combine the folded Heptagons, triangles, squares and rhombi shaped prints into a large and complex structure. a monochromatic all white color scheme showcases the multitude of folds , creating interesting shadows across its surface.
Theo Schaad – Hepta Jagged – Collage of Block Prints – 2022
Theo Schaad’s monumental collage Hepta Jagged from 2022, was created using hundreds of pieces of cut up block prints.According to Schaad, Hepta Jagged is a patch of an infinite quasi-periodic tessellation with local 7-fold rotational symmetry. The technique of block printing offers a type of repetition pattern with slight variations. When the prints are carefully cut up and assembled in intricate tiling there is a wonderful painterly quality to the work.
Although this is only a small sample of work at the Bridges Conference I hope it gives you a hint of all the great art presented.
fibonaccisusan 