“Fin de Siecle – Buch der Bilder” ,a solo exhibition of Hanna Darboven’s work, is currently at Petzel gallery in Chelsea.

In the October issue of Art Forum magazine Darboven comments on the use of numerals. “It has nothing to do with Mathematics. Nothing! I choose numbers because they are so steady, limited, artificial. To me, in artistically separating the digits in numbers from the idea of mathematics, is a mathematical act. 

At the show at Petzel, a multitude of complex images fill the gallery walls, creating an abstract work that transcends both the numbers and the marking of time, documented by Darboven’s “day calculations” from 1988–1989.

Here is a close up of one on the framed pieces in the exhibition. This page at first just looks like a numerical progression. The numbers correspond to to calendar days. Date, Month , Year. In this case 4 25 88 refers to April 25, 1988. 

Susan Happersett