Armory Show

March is a busy month for art fairs in NYC.

The Armory Show is the largest venue, taking place on piers 90 and 94 on the Hudson River. There are a number of galleries featuring art with Mathematical themes. I will offer you a small sample of some of my favorites.

The Anne Mosseri-Marlio Galerie from Switzerland featured the work of Beth Campbell. This powder coated steel mobile titled “There is no such thing as a good decision (brilliant)” is a floating drawing presenting a schematic diagram of a series of two choice decisions. Starting from a single wire that offers two options. The number of choices doubles with each iteration.

The O S L Contemporary Gallery from Oslo, Norway devoted there space to an amazing survey of sculpture by Aase Texmon Rygh. Rygh is an important early modernist sculptor who explored many topological forms.

Möbius

Twisted rectangles with ovoid cut always

Möbius Trippel

Susan Happersett

More from the Armory Art Fair

Posted by Susan Happersett

One of the trends that I have noticed in geometric drawings and paintings is the use of overlapping circles. There were two particularly interesting examples at the Armory Fair.

In the Galeria Nara Roesler booth, Julio L Parc’s painting “Alchimie 420” from 2018 was on display. This work offers a pointillistic representation of two half circles with concentric arcs radiating out from the top and bottom of the canvas. As the arcs get larger they overlap at the center and fall of the picture plan on either side.

The i8 gallery from Reykjavik Iceland presented Ignacio Uriarte’s 2018 ink on paper “ Eight Circles Form a Square”. Uriarte’s circles feature a textural shading technique that give them a 3 dimensional presence, but at the same time they appear somewhat transparent because you can see all parts of all 8 circles even they are over lapping. The square structure is formed by two columns of three over lapping circles and over that there is a central column of two non-overlapping circles. There are four sections where three circles and overlap.

These giant art fairs can be almost overwhelming. It is almost impossible to see everything. Buy because there is so much art in one place it is exciting to see how different artists deal with similar geometric themes.

Susan Happersett

Proyectosmonclova Gallery at the Armory Show – New York City

Posted by Susan Happersett

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

Geometry at the Armory Show

Posted by Susan Happersett

For one week each March New York City becomes the epicenter of the contemporary international art world. There are at least 6 art fairs all running pretty much simultaneously. The largest is the Armory Show. It is too huge to fit in the Armory so it takes place on two huge piers on the Hudson river. Over one hundred gallerists form all over the planet set up exhibitions rooms to showcase the their inventory. The opening night is a very noisy, crowded and rather intimidating event. I saw quite a bit of art with Mathematical subject matter. For this blog entry I have decided to focus on three works that are about Geometry.

Gabriel de la Mora at Sicardi Gallery

Sicardi Gallery from Houston Texas featured this amazing construction by Gabriel de la Mora at the entrance to their booth. This work is a nod to minimalist paintings from the 1960’s and 70’s but with a twist. It is composed of match boxes.The red brick shaped rectangles that make up this work are actually the red phosphorous paper you find on the striker of a match box. This unexpected choice of material makes us look at the repetitive nature of the geometry with a more emotionally charged reference point. Adding the element of fire changes the theme of the work, but the geometry stays true to the Minimalist roots. La Mora’s background as an architect is apparent in the precision involved in the creating the parallel lines to form the concentric rectangles. This work also has both a horizontal as well as a vertical line of symmetry.

Julio Le Parc Galeria Nara Roesler

The large mobile installation by the famous Argentinian artist Julio Le Parc at the Galeria Nara Roesler (Sao Paulo) is a sphere composed of small flat rectangular acrylic shapes. There is a great sense of movement in this sculpture, and the semi-transparent yellow pieces of acrylic play with the light. It almost seems like magic that a grid of rectangles can render such a lively sphere.

Claudia Wieser at Sies+Hoke Galerie

Claudia Wieser’s ceramic wall installation takes center stage at Sies +Hoke Galerie from Düsseldorf, Germany. The images of this work feature a right triangle, an isosceles triangle, as well as two circles. It seems to pay homage to a geometry text book. What I find visually interesting in this piece is the use of tiles, which creates a secondary underlying square grid. This grid is instrumental in the coloring of the large circle.

I have been attending the Armory Show for years. In past shows there were times when there was very little presence of Mathematics in the art work presented, but this year I was quite pleased to find a number of interesting examples.

Susan