Mathematical Art

Alicja Kwade on the roof at the MET

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Each Spring the Metropolitan Museum of Art unveils a new installation. This year the museum is presenting an Alicja Kwade”s installation titled “Parapivot”.The two steel and stone sculptures are based on perceptions of solar systems. Each is comprised of a series of rectangular black steel frames with stone orbs balanced on the beams. One structure features 3 intersecting rectangles and the other has 5 rectangles.
Here is the sculpture with 5 rectangles.
Each of the five frames are perpendicular to the ground. Looking at the work from a distance the view of the rectangular frames is distorted, appearing to be trapezoids and other irregular quadrilaterals.
Focusing on the  intersecting lines of the bases of the rectangles helps to understand how the shapes have been arranged in space. Building  a 3-D steel line drawing to create flat open planes juxtaposed with the weightiness of the stone spheres Kwade presents questions of perception.
Susan Happersett

Jean-Luc Moulène at Miguel Abreu Gallery

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The Miguel Abreu Gallery is currently presenting a group show titled “Mostly Early Works by Gallery Artists”. One of the works o display is an onyx sculpture from 2015 by Jean-Luc Moulène titled “Sample (Onyx)”
The sculpture is composed of five rounded cones. Two pointed in opposite directions to form an axis. The remaining three are jutting out perpendicularly to the axis.
The three cones around the axis are positioned at 120 degree intervals to create order 3 rotational symmetry. This symmetry is visible when  the work is viewed at a looking straight at the points of the axis.
Susan Happersett

“Spilling Over Painting Color in the 1960’s”

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The Whitney Museum’s current exhibition “Spilling Over Painting Color in the 1960’s” features work from their collection that explore the perception of bold color. Geometry was a powerful vehicle of expression for a number of artists represented.
Alvin Loving’s  “Septehedron 34” acrylic on shaped canvas from 1970 presents a 3-D projection of an imaginary seven sided figure on to the 2-D plane. Made up of a lattice of seven right triangles , the viewer is looking directly at one triangular face, surrounded by three other triangles with the three remaining triangles intersecting in the background.
“The Fourth of the Three” from 1963 by Richard Anuszkiewicz has only three colors of paint but the image created appears to have a much more complex palate of various intensities. The undulating grid of not quite all squares was manipulated by varying width of the red lines between the shapes. Using a mathematical plan, the lines are thin at the four sides square panel, then growing thicker,  before getting thin again at the center. This creates the optical illusion of movement.
Susan Happersett

Playing Games: Chance, Skill, and Abstraction at Ricco/Maresca

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The exhibition “Playing Games: Chance, Skill, and Abstraction” at the Ricco/Maresca gallery presents antique handmade game boards along with contemporary paintings that feature the similar mathematical imagery. Before parlor games were mass-produced artisans hand painted the geometric patterns onto wood boards.
This is late 19th century American Anonymous example of a Parcheesi variation board game employs flat color shapes and rotational symmetry comparable to a 20th century abstract painting.
George Widener has created work that continues that tradition.
“Magic Squares” the mixed media work from 2016 is 16 framed rectangular sheets presented in a 4X4 arrangement. Each one features a number from 1 to 16. The magic is in the arrangement, the numbers in each row, column, and diagonal add up to 34!
The numbers each have a unique background with circles and a series of text of month stamps.
Susan Happersett

Arakawa at Gagosian Gallery

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“Diagrams for the imagination” at the Gagosian Gallery on Madison Avenue features work produced by Arakawa between 1965 and 1984. Using words as well as geometric images these works function as schematic drawings for abstract themes.
“NO! Says the Volume”” from 1978, prominently displays a dodecahedron in the foreground possibly alluding to the text and title. Above the dodecahedron is a partial ring that is segmented into a black to white gradient from left to right, ending in the unexpected yellow. The use of gray scale is a way to represent a 3-D form with volume on a 2-D plane.
“Waiting Voices” from 1976-1977 is a two panel work. The left hand side has diagram of a cone within a cone and and a partial diagram of a cylinder within a cylinder. The text for this work is all positioned from the left side.
The work in this exhibition incorporates both poetry and mathematical renderings. Arakawa creates a connection between the measured accuracy of the geometric figures, imagination and emotion.
Susan Happersett

Proyectosmonclova Gallery at the Armory Show – New York City

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It is March of n NYC so it is time for the giant art fairs. This year at the Armory show on Pier 94 galleries from all over the world brought an exciting assortment of work.

The Proyectosmonclova gallery from Mexico City exhibited the work of two artists whose work have Mathematical implications.

Gabriel de la Mora’s “193,200” from 2019 has two distinct mathematical themes, both geometric and numerical.The use of parallel lines with increasing frequency from top to bottom creates an electrifying pulse of geometric forms. The three rectangular horizontal rows explore the idea of positive and negative space. This work was created using 7;728 used sides from 3,864 match boxes from 193,200 burnt matches. The act of counting each of these elements expresses the intensity and detail in De la Mora’s artistic practice.


Eduardo Terrazas creates geometric forms using wool yarn on wood boards for the series “ Possibilities of a Structure” from 2018. Each of these works have an underlying stitch pattern featuring order 4 rotational symmetry and a circle inscribed within the square structure of the board. The symmetry is broken by highlighting some of the geometric forms with colored thread. Each shape possesses one curvilinear side. The concept of a non symmetrical pattern with a symmetrical framework offers a refreshing way to look at geometry.

Susan Happersett

Booklyn Artist’s Book Fair

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I have been busy working on new series of limited edition Artist books with Purgatory Pie Press titled “Cartesian Lace Bricolage”. The five sculptural books will feature letterpress prints of my Cartesian Lace drawings in two size scales and a variety of overlapping configurations. The construction of these pieces incorporates a new syncopated intertwined double accordion structure that I have been developing over the past year. We will have this new work on display at the Booklyn Artist’s Book Fair in Manhattan next weekend.
You can find the location and opening hours of the fair here.
Susan Happersett

Finding Fibonacci

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Two Fibonacci Number sightings.
I am happy to report that the “Box of Growth” set of artist’s books published by Purgatory Pie Press in 1999 is on display at Connecticut College’s exhibition “Loose Leafs and Bindings: Book Arts and Prints”. This set of five small books feature my counted marking drawings that illustrate Fibonacci Sequence growth patterns.
Installed in the backroom at the Odetta gallery in Brooklyn. I found two cement Fibonacci Numbers from Patrick Gallagher and Chris Klapper’s “Exploring the Poetry of Numbers” series.
This number is F67, the 67th number in the Fibonacci Sequence
This number is F96, the 96th number in the Fibonacci Sequence.
Susan Happersett

“Falling into Place” at Odetta Gallery

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The Odetta Gallery in Brooklyn is currently presenting a group show titled “Falling into Space”. It explores how physical forces affect the position of objects the artists each utilized a distinct geometric language.
Mary Schiliro’s acrylic painting on Mylar “Cat’s Cradle 7” from 2006 incorporates two columns of circular cutouts. The vertical line of reflection symmetry resulting from the cutouts is subverted by the fluid veil of blue transparent paint.

Schiliro’s installment “Disembody” from 2017 continues the theme of a straight line of circular cutouts. The long Mylar ribbon is presented in loops hung from a plexiglass rod running through the center of the gallery. The forces of gravity creating the undulating curtain. The cutaways lined up to create a series of voids illustrating the concept of positive and negative space.

Daniel G Hill’s wire frame wall drawing “Dishtowel Fold” from 2018 is a construction using straight lines to present the basic outline and folds of a form effected by gravity. The two ends are isosceles right triangles. The left hand triangle flush against the wall and the right hand triangle falling forward off the plane.

All of the work in “Falling into Place” involves each artists’ geometric processes in a very personal way. The viewer can move through the gallery and interact with each piece on a very human level.

Susan Happersett

Josef Albers at David Zwirner 

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The David Zwirner gallery is presenting “Sonic Albers” an exhibition related to Alber’s interests in music and sonic phenomena. Albers is known for his his investigations  into color and geometric forms. His series of paintings “Homage to the Square” produced between 1950-1976 are an iconic contribution to the lexicon of 20th century Art. This current solo exhibition includes some work almost devoid of color, only using black and white.
“Structural Constellation M-9” from1954 is a line drawing created using machine-engraved plastic laminate that references the outlines of geometric solids in 3-D space. Two rectangular cubes share a segment of one side. The central figure is a rhombus depicting the shared section. It seems as though the two solids are sliding against each other on the same plane.
Here is another panel from the “Structural Constellation” series instead of featuring closed geometric solids this work depicts open forms that share edges in what looks like a precarious arrangement.
Susan Happersett