The Lehmann Maupin gallery in Chelsea is currently (October 2026) presenting a solo exhibition of Rana Begum’s work. These geometric abstractions have been constructed using industrial materials.

“No 1272” is part of a series of chain link installations.

Filling almost the entire room this work features two sets of parallel walls of chain link, one red and one blue. They are positioned in such away that they partially overlap and alternate in color. This arrangement creates a disturbance in the geometric pattern of the chain link material.

A type of moire effect is visible as the viewer moves through out the space.

Begum’s use  of chain link fencing makes us look at the geometry we encounter everyday, the positioning of the planes of lattices creates a more complex and unexpected experience.

Susan Happersett

The Museum of Modern Art in NYC is presenting “Full Disclosure. The Edge of Information Design” in their ground floor gallery space that is free to the public. This exhibition explores the processes of transposing raw data into knowledge.

One section of the gallery is devoted to huge textual fresco’s created by Kate Crawford and Vladimir Joler in 2023.

The fresco’s titled “ Calculating Empires: A Genealogy of Technology and Power since 1500” is divided into sections. Mathematical topics such as Cartesian Geometry and Incompleteness are featured in the sections labeled “ \Algorithms” and “Models”.

This work expressly illustrates the interconnectedness of Mathematics and Data Technology for better or worse in human society.
There are a number of very interesting projects on display and the show will be up until June 2027, so If you are in NYC I suggest you go and have a look.

Susan Happersett

The Bortolami gallery in Tribeca is currently presenting a two person show with the world of Daniel Buren and Barbara Kasten. 
Kasten’s abstract paintings are quite engaging and offer some interesting geometric perspectives, but Buren’s wall installations really caught my attention.

“Prismes et miroirs” from 2022 features a step pattern of painted aluminum prisms.  The blue and white stripes accentuate the increasing width of each step. The side view offers a vertical series of identical blue isosceles triangles. There is also a mirrored section above and to the right of the steps. this reflective surface adds an extra twist to the viewer’s perspective depending on their position in the gallery.

Susan Happersett

It has been a few years since I have posted anything on this Math Art blog. I have been focusing on other things including my own drawings and sculptures. But I have decided it is time to get back to my blog. I think a good place to begin again is the biggest art fair in NYC, The Armory Show! This year there was a quite a bit of figurative and representational work but I was able to find booths with abstract pieces with mathematical elements.

The Marinaro gallery presented a solo exhibition of the work of Brenda Mallory.

“Winding: As the Day Widens” from 2025 is assembled from dyed found bobbins of thread. The circular bobbins have been arranged in a grid forming a square. The square consists of concentric squares differentiated by depth of color of the gray tones. This work celebrates the geometry of the bobbins while creating a quadrilateral pattern.

The Galerie Forsblom from Helsinki, Finland also exhibited a circle based work. Jacob Hashimoto’s “Yet Untitled” from 2026 is an elaborate wall construction built from bamboo, wood, paper, and Dacron.

Featuring five layers of suspended circles with the largest in the back and the smallest in the front, the artist creates a mesmerizing effect of scale and perspective.

The mix of solid circles in some sections and highly patterned circles in other sections creates a tension between rigid geometry and a more chaotic abstraction.

I hope to keep posting about more Math Art I encounter in NYC and on my travels, as well as some of my new work. 

Susan

Benigna Chilla has had a long and impressive career. After studying with Bauhaus professors in Germany she immigrated to the USA in 1969. Her perceptions regarding planar geometry are highlighted in this current exhibition at Sapar Contemporary gallery in Tribeca. From early on her work has expressed her exploration of the connections between Mathematics and Art.
The 3-D constructions in this exhibition were built from prints that involve a minimalist sensibility. By cutting and folding the paper Chilla has created new visual geometries.

“Ascending” from 1972 features a system of accordion folded triangles. When positioned directly in the front the work, the viewer sees bold printing creates 3 diagonal stripes. 

But that is only hint of the complexity of the structure. A side view of the construction offers another perspective.

The prints incorporated in the construction “Untitled (Column)” from 1976 are long paper strips with delicate vertical parallel lines.

Looking from another direction. These lines go over and around the angles of Chilla’s angular folding pattern. 

What I find so fascinating about the work in this show is how the look of each piece changes when viewed from from different angles in the gallery. Chilla is able to present numerous mathematical ideas in each construction.

Susan Happersett

The Armory Fair at the Jacob Javitz convention center is the largest of the NYC art shows. Galleries from all over the world exhibit at this venue. I chose two galleries with Mathematical work in their booth.

The Rodolphe Janssen galley from Brussels was presenting the work of Brooklin A. Soumahora.

The painting “Window Pnk/Ble” from 2024 consists of a grid of  diagonally bisected rectangles, forming right triangles in contrasting colors. The proportions of the rectangles transition from corner squares to narrow vertical rectangles in the center of the work. This technique creates an interesting illusion of compressed space.

The Blue Velvet Gallery from Zurich was presenting the work of CHRYSSA from the 1960’s. For these  large scale works the artists used a technique of printing onto the painted canvas using images directly taken from printed media. “Magic Carpet (Newspaper )” includes repetitive clippings of grids from the stock market  reports. This mathematical data becomes part of an abstract composition.

More art soon.

Susan Happersett

The Fall Art season has started in NYC. The Art on Paper Fair on Pier 36 had a number of booths featuring mathematical art.

Purgatory Pie Press presented some of my Mathematical prints and books.

The press’ newest print and book “Twenty” by Dikko Faust and Esther K Smith is a counting spiral pattern.

There were a number of galleries and artists showing work with Mathematics implications. Scott McCarney exhibited his triangle format book “In Case of Emergency”.

AC Latin Art exhibited the intricate geometric drawings of Hal Trager. Diamond-shaped grids are the building blocks for the drawing  “The Crossroads”. Diamonds become 3  triangles. A base of three equilateral triangles with an isosceles triangle perched on top.

There are quite a few art fairs in NYC this week. Next, I will visit the Armory Fair.

Susan Happersett

The MoMA in Manhattan is presenting a retrospective of the Joan Jonas. Known for videos and installations that address political and environmental issues, Jonas incorporates blackboard drawings. Many of these white on black drawings incorporate mathematical images.

“Black Board Drawings III and IV” from 1971 features different vantage points of looking at a geometric shape, like an architectural diagram.

This drawing is part of an installation from 2002 titled “Lines in the Sand”. The step like pyramid form is related to both counting and geometry. Although these types of drawings were only a part of the total installation or video I feel it is important to point out the mathematical features of Jonas’ work.

Susan Happersett

Sotheby’s Art & Home Gallery in Morristown, NJ is currently presenting a solo exhibition of Irene Rousseau’s impressive mathematically-inspired mosaics and paintings under the title “Patterns in Nature”.

This mosaic, titled “Infinite Smallness”, is based on the concepts of hyperbolic geometry. Although the work is primarily 2-dimensional, Rousseau has incorporated non-Euclidean geometry in her exploration of negative curvature and exponential growth.

Rousseau also uses oil paint to build tessellated patterns. The painting “Layered Space” shows the dichotomy between the intricate patterning and the fractures within the pattern, caused by spaces between each individual painted “tile” . 
Through these mathematical tilings Rousseau expresses and expounds on very abstract and complex topics. Her use of shape and color makes the beauty of the Mathematics accessible to everyone.

Irene Rousseau’s work will be on display at Irene Rousseau at Sotheby’s Art & Home Gallery until July 15.

Susan Happersett