This Summer the artist Willie Cole installed four monumental chandelier sculptures on Park Avenue at 69th St and 70th St in Manhattan.
They are titled “Soul Catchers” and constructed out of used plastic water bottles.
Each work features interesting mathematical properties. The substrates are a series of circles with decreasing circumference from top to bottom, positioned so that the center of each circle is along a vertical axis.The number of bottles attached to this set of circles also decreases from top to bottom. The use of chandeliers as the subject hints at the posh reputation of Park Avenue. Juxtaposing the wealth of the neighborhood with the use recycled plastic bottles Cole is making a societal statement, reflecting on our reliance on single use plastic as well as the need for global access to safe drinking water.
The nara roesler gallery in Chelsea is currently presenting Brazilian artist José Patrício’s first solo exhibition in New York.
The show titled “geometry of chance” features a series of large format wall constructions created using small plastic puzzles pieces. These square pieces are used in hand held slide puzzles.
Patrício uses mathematics to determine the placement of each piece within the composition without preparatory drawings.
I have chosen two works to show you. These particular works are based on a spiral pattern within the grid formation. Like the slide puzzles that use the same plastic tile like pieces, one space within the grid is left empty.
“Expansion and Retraction II” from 2017
In this first example “Expansion and Retraction II” the shades of white, black and grey are the fronts of the puzzles pieces as the are received from the factory. Using mathematics, Patrício spirals the pieces in increasing and decreasing grey scales to create a series of concentric squares that seem to vibrate into and off of the picture plane.
Close-up
This next example is from the artist’s Recipientes series. For these works the puzzle pieces are turned over to show a circular indentation in the back. Filling this little reservoir in with enamel paint opens up new possibilities.
“Containers- Progressively Decreasing Accumulation in Blue, orange, and white” 2023
The raised circles offer an interesting textural element as well a sense of a dot matrix. The coloring is done after the pieces are in place and again determined mathematically.
Close up
The wall text for this exhibition references Blaise Pascal’s 17th Century principles of the Geometry of Chance. By creating his work by hand while using an algorithm, Patrício has invited an element of chance into his expression of the mathematics.
The Art on Paper fair will be held from Thursday September 7 through Sunday September 10 at Pier 36 on the Lower East Side.
Purgatory Pie Press will be participating this year and will be displaying our collaborations, including my newest paper sculpture “FlutterFly”. If you are in town stop by and see us!
I have been lucky enough to be able to travel this Spring. And I have found some Modern Math/Art in Italy. The Pallazzo Delle Esposizioni Piazza San Martino in Lucca is currently presenting a group show titled “LABIRINTO”, a reference to the ancient stone carving on the Cathedral. The artist Teo Pirisi known as “Moneyless” is exhibiting work from he is blackboard series.
Each of these three works are acrylic on chalk boards. They are created by shifting and copying a circle across the surface. They all feature both horizontal and vertical lines of reflective symmetry.
Lucca is filled with amazing art from numerous centuries, but it was fun to find an exhibition of contemporary art with Mathematical connections.
This this third installment on the Gego exhibition at the Guggenheim. Near the end of her long career, Gego created a series of paper weavings based on grids and geometric forms.
“Tejedura 91/30” uses a horizontal/vertical grid formation of squares and rectangles. This piece features order-2 rotational symmetry.
“Tejedura 89/23” incorporates an angled component to the grid structure allowing the artist to create squares in a diamond position.
This retrospective of Gego’s long and diverse exploration into both geometry and the concept of infinity will be on display at the Guggenheim in NYC through the Summer of 2023
As I mention in a previous post I am totally enamored with the Gego show at the Guggenheim. So here are a few more wonderful examples of her work. The museum devoted an entire section of the exhibition to Gego’s use of parallel lines. I particularly liked the black sculptures on display.
This aluminum sculpture from 1957 is titled “12 Concentric Circles”. It uses a series of curved lines create a 3D drawing. Both the sculptural form and its shadows create an interesting play of positive and negative space.
“Sphere” from 1959 is made from brass and steel. For this sculpture, the artist used straight parallel lines, but the overall shape is curved. I particularly like the juxtaposition of the straight and the curve. Again the shadows are so important and give a sense of more than 3 dimensions.
“Gegotoi” (1959) is an iron sculpture of all straight lines. To me this really feels like an open triangular book with parallel lines of texts.
Again if you are in NYC head to the Guggenheim! I still have more art from this show I want to talk about so…. Look for my next post soon.
I am so happy to introduce my new collaboration, FlutterFly!
I worked with Esther K. Smith to create this limited edition series of Artist’s Books. The surface patterns are my algorithmically generated Trapezoidal Lace drawings that Esther overlapped and printed using Risograph processes at SVA. The structure for these pieces is one of my new inventions: I am working on developing non-Euclidean paper sculptural forms that can be build from a set of identical geometric paper shapes attached in a helix formation and then either bent or folded. These shapes are inspired by hyperbolic geometry.
The FlutterFly books are built using 3 very special rectangles. The proportions of the rectangle are such that when you fold along both diagonals equilateral triangles are formed. I used the Pythagorean formula to do my calculations! If you would like to own a FlutterFly they are published by the EK Smith Museum and are available on Etsy for $33 plus shipping in the Purgatory Pie Press store. If you add the code 001Fibonacci in the instruction section you will also receive a free gift!
I hope you like this new book. Let me know what you think.
The Guggenheim Museum in New York is currently presenting the work of Gego in a retrospective titled “Measuring Infinity“. *Spoiler alert* I have been a huge fan of Gego’s work for awhile now, and I knew that her art would look amazing in the white helix that is the Guggenheim.
As you start to walk up the ramp there is a small alcove gallery. In this space, the curators have installed a selection of what Gego referred to as “reticulareas”, sculptures from the 1960’s to the 80’s. Their construction is based on squares and triangles. The whole environment was so breathtaking I literally forgot to breath and started getting dizzy. Here are a few of my favorite pieces in the room.
A series of bronzes from 1977“Columna”, 1972Close up of “Columna”“Retinulaveo Cuandrada”Close up of “Retinulaveo Cuandrada”
What makes Gego’s work so irresistible to me is the fact that besides being very beautiful it also expresses Mathematics in two different ways. The work is all built using basic geometric principles. But the complexity of the patterns and the repetition lead the viewer to think about the infinity.
This exhibition is huge. I can not possibly write about it in one post. I have already seen the show twice and I plan to go back again. I will write more soon. In the mean time I encourage any one who can get to NYC this Spring or Summer to see this exhibition.
David Smith from England has recently solved an important Mathematical problem. He found a single polygon shape that can tile an infinite flat plane creating a non repeating pattern. Smith was not a mathematician, he had worked as printing technician. I have always felt that printing and especially letterpress printing with moveable type was a very mathematical art form.
Dikko Faust is a master printer who develops beautiful tessellation patterns. Here are some of setups on the press.
If you are interested in exploring the mathematics behind printing, I recommend Faust’s Continuing Education course at SVA in Chelsea, New York.
The Jack Hanley Gallery in Tribeca is currently presenting the exhibition “Dog’s Dinner” a solo show of recent paintings by Johnny Abrahams. These two examples are from the “Elemental” series of work. Using a pallet knife, the artist applied a thick layer of black paint creating a linear textuality.
This Untitled canvas from 2022 features 3 rectangles each with the same curvi-linear cut away. Although at first they appear to be separate shapes there is a small connection between them.
Also Untitled from 2022, this canvas features two rectangles. One with a curved lower center corner and one with a curved upper central corner. This piece has order-2 rotational symmetry. Again, these two shapes have one place were they are subtly connected.
This series of work juxtaposes the linear polygon with curved lines and positive space with negative
