Holes in Memory

 

Charcoal and acrylic on wooden palette

18" x 12"

2009

Not for sale

This is a new piece, done as part of a fundraiser for the Alzheimer's Association.  It was auctioned off to raise money for the Memories in the Making art therapy program.  The theme of the piece is Alzheimer's Disease, and the word "memory" is repeated throughout the background.

Invisible Cities

 

Acrylic, gouache, and ink on canvas

12" x 15"

2009

$100

This piece is based on the book Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino, which seems to be about the patterns that make a city.  I find the book very evocative, and plan to do a series of 55 works on it.  This is the pilot piece for the series, but I'm not sure the others will look anything like this...  

I'm fairly inexperienced working with acrylics and gouache (most of my up until now has been with oils), so this piece feels somewhat immature to me, though there are definitely parts of it that I like.  Working on this piece was enjoyable, since it was almost unconscious, stream-of-thought painting.  

Pieces of Pi

Oil, acrylic, charcoal, and Galkyd on canvas

12" x 12" (each)

2008

Sold

This triptych shows fractions of pies over fractions of pi.  Or rather, fractions of 2*pi.  

The first piece is called "Pie for Three" and it shows 4*pi/3 written out in decimal form to about 35 digits in the background.  The pie is missing one third.

The second piece, "Pie," has 2*pi in approximate decimal form and shows a full pie.

The third piece, "Pie for 8," has pi/4 in approximate decimal form and shows an eighth of a pie.

Though it doesn't photograph well, each pie has a thick coating of dripped Galkyd over the red part, making it look like pie filling.

Portrait of a Friend

Mixed media on canvas

24" x 18"

2007

Sold

This is a portrait of my good friend Megan.  I'm posting it now, because she just came out to visit me!

Self Portrait

Oil on canvas

48" x 48"

2005

$200

This is a self portrait from a couple of years ago.  At the time, I was experimenting with muted colors and exaggerated shapes.  (You can see the same style in the Split Personality diptych.)  

Sketchbook

Collage on paper

9.5" x 14"

2009

Not for sale

These are some recent experimental pieces in my sketchbook. I'm discovering the joy of envelopes and collage and have been raiding my sister's origami paper stores. Each piece is continuation of the one below it. The bottom-most image is all envelopes closed, the middle image is all envelopes open, and the top image is the scraps left over after making the envelopes.

Adoration

Oil on canvas

40" x 30"

2006

$120

This is an older piece, but I continue to find it funny.  It was the result of matching random objects and emotions: toilet brush / love.  Though the combination occurred at random, when I look at it I feel a certain sense of irony in the way it speaks to women's roles.  In a time when many of our mothers have broken out of the domestic, private sphere, for some daughters (like myself) there is a romanticized notion of the 60's stay at home mom.  We forget about the drudgery and think of the potlucks, salons, and cocktails.  I wonder if the pendulum will swing back, and when it does, will high level female executives find a renewed love for their toilet brushes?

27 is Not a Prime Number

Oil and conte crayon on masonite

36" x 42"

2008

$500

This piece includes the ordered numbers 1 through 90 with the prime numbers highlighted in white.  There is an abstracted rock wall superimposed over the number line.  The piece speaks to the unpredictable nature of the occurrence of primes and relates it to the unpredictability of natural forces. 

Beta Birds

Oil, acrylic, charcoal, and conte on canvas

24" x 30"

2008

Sold

This piece substitutes birds on a wire for gammas and betas in an equation.

Mathematics of Aesthetics

Oil, acrylic, charcoal, conte, and ink on canvas

32" x 45"

2007

$200

There is an essay called "The Mathematics of Aesthetics" by George David Birkhoff.  The essay asserts that aesthetic mass is order over complexity, and that the  more aesthetic mass something has, the more beautiful it is.  This piece is a reaction to that formula, and actually to all formulas for what is beautiful and what isn't.  

When I first discovered the essay, I was determined to make a painting which maximized aesthetic mass according to the equation.  But when I thought about how to maximize order and minimize complexity visually, I ended up with an image that I found incredibly boring.  This piece shows the space that I was working in while studying the essay.  The blank book and the clean equations contrast with the disorder of the studio, but I think both look beautiful in their opposition.

A Pair of Pears in Peril

Acrylic, graphite, and collage on canvas

11" x 14"

2009

Not for sale

This is a piece done sheerly for the fun of it.  It is one of my first ventures into acrylic paints and smaller formats (which have become necessary since moving into a new, smaller space with no ventilation).  The wallpaper is a map of San Francisco, my new location.  I was looking at a lot of art by the comic book artist Bill Sienkiewicz while painting this, and I think it shows in the color scheme and style.

2.3-D

Oil, graphite, and collage on masonite

24" x 48"

2008

$150

This piece is about transformations between 2 and 3 dimensions.  The maps collaged into the background show a 2-D representation of a 3-D world.  Paper airplanes show how a 3-D object can be created from a 2-D one.  Some of the paper airplanes in this piece are painted (another 2-D representation of 3 dimensions) and some are made out of maps and attached.

The ways that objects and properties change when transferred between spaces of different dimensions is under constant scrutiny by mathematicians.  By studying the changes between 2 and 3 dimensions, they can often infer how changes in higher level dimensions may act.  In this way, they are able to study spaces that cannot be comprehended without math.  

Pythagorean Theorem Series-Part II (Pieces 5-8)

Pythagorean Theorem V: Moving Up
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150

Pythagorean Theorem VI: You Too?
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150

Pythagorean Theorem VII: Close
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150

Pythagorean Theorem VIII: Q.E.D.
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150

Pythagorean Theorem Series - Part I (Pieces 1-4)

Pythagorean Theorem I: The Set Up
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150



Pythagorean Theorem II: First Steps
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150



Pythagorean Theorem III: Shadow of My Former Self
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150



Pythagorean Theorem IV: Self Aware
Oil, mylar, nails, fishing line, and wire on board
11" x 11"
2008
$150


The Pythagorean Theorem Series shows the geometric proof of the Pythagorean Theorem (a^2 + b^2 = c^2) in eight steps. The proof begins with two squares; one has sides of length a and the other has sides of length b. These two squares have areas of a^2 and b^2, respectively, and the proof essentially manipulates these areas until we see that when they are combined, they equal the area of a third square with sides of length c and area c^2. The proof manipulates the areas of the squares by cutting them into triangles, so you'll see triangles in most of the works. Circles are also visible to show the equality or inequality of certain lengths. The coordinate axes appear so that viewers can orient the shapes, and other geometric shapes that I found important to the proof are painted in high gloss.

To me, the way that the proof maneuvered the areas of the triangles seemed to relate to cross culturalism- the triangles looked different, they interacted differently, but they essentially were all triangles of the same area (area as a basic element of their identity, and area as in the space that they live). Furthermore, after being translated (in a non-mathematical sense) all over the place, they achieved unity and accomplished a profound goal! It's a pretty cheesy personification, but the analogy inspired me...

I related the two ideas by illustrating each step of the proof with a stage of life that seems fairly universal. The first stage is being a fragile infant, the second is as a young child gaining independence, third is realization of growth and impending maturity, fourth is the self aware feeling that comes with the physical ability to reproduce, fifth is "striking out to seek your fortune" or to have a role in society, sixth is the desire to find others similar to yourself and to bond with them, seventh is to forge loving relationships, and last is to restart the cycle. (The last four images will be in next week's post!) The title of each piece refers to the life stage that is illustrated as well as to the actual movement of the triangles in the proof. For example, in Shadow of My Former Self, the triangles have been elongated so that they look like shadows of the two original triangles, but the title also refers to the feeling of having left one's childhood.

Limits

Charcoal, conte crayon, and oil on masonite

52" x 47"

2006

$550

In math, a function is said to have a limit as it approaches infinity if it yields the same value regardless of the way the input approaches infinity. The boxes in this piece represent that notion. They represent views from different perspectives and their sides converge in unexpected ways, yet they all show the same blue on the far side.

My initial sketch for this piece consisted solely of boxes; there was no portrait involved. Upon painting it, however, I realized that the boxes alone didn’t make for a very interesting piece. I added the portrait in a moment of frustration, thinking that I would just forego the box idea completely and turn the whole piece into a sour looking self portrait. When I returned to the studio, I decided to merge the two images, and I eventually ended up with a portrait painted within the boxes.

I feel that the portrait represents a limit in a human sense - It came about as a response to having reached a limit, and it’s confined within certain boundaries. This piece ended up being a representation of a mathematical limit with a representation of a human limit superimposed on top of it.

Silent Dilemma

Ink and charcoal on paper

24" x 36"

2007

Not for sale

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!  This seems to be the most Valentiney piece I have.  

This piece was the result of a unique challenge to create a self-portrait in the image of someone else while reading your favorite book and eating your favorite food.  I chose to do mine in the image of Clara Bow, a silent film actress of the '20s.  The book is Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities, and the food is chocolate cake.  The text says "But Darling, it could destroy us!"

Major Minor Discord

Oil on wooden door

30" x 95"

2008

$600

This piece merges the image of a piano with images of a city.  The missing piano keys on the left side form a major chord, while the missing keys on the right form a minor chord.  The skyscrapers in the foreground are simplified versions of famous buildings from around the world, and the structures in the background are modeled after a shanty-town in India.  

     The focus of the piece is the dichotomy between the "majority" and the "minority."  The majority is symbolized by the skyscrapers in the foreground.  The skyscrapers are white monoliths representing commerce and capitalism.  The background of colorful, pieced together homes represents the minority.  The juxtaposition, the coloring, and the relative scales of the buildings allude to the fact that "minorities" actually constitute a majority of the population in many cases, though their interests are generally overruled by the "majority."

     The skyscrapers/piano keys in the foreground have a layer of Galkyd  on them which gives them a glossy appearance.  From most angles, the gloss makes them stand out from the rest of the piece.  I chose not to show the reflection of light on the gloss in this picture, since it makes it difficult to make out the details below it.

Optimization

Ink, charcoal, gesso, and graphite on paper

14" x 34"

2007

$150

Soap bubbles are used in mathematics to represent the container of minimal surface area which encloses a specific volume.  Given two volumes to be enclosed separately in a single container, the double bubble (think of two bubbles joined together) is the container of minimal surface area.  Of course, the more volumes one is given, the more complex the problem gets, but the imagery of intersecting bubbles spawned this piece.  

Undetermined Coefficients

Oil & charcoal on canvas

36" x 48"

2006

Sold

This was the first of many ventures into using concrete mathematic imagery in my work.  This piece uses the solving of a first order differential equation as a backdrop.  The concept behind this piece is that numbers are symbols defined by what surrounds them.  I represented this by painting the space between the numbers rather than the numbers themselves.

Split Personality

Oil on canvas

36" x 48" Diptych

2005

$150 (Unframed)

This figurative diptych consists of two 36" x 24" pieces which, to my initial dismay, were run over during a transportation mishap.  It turned out to be a happy accident, though, since I like the piece better with tire marks!  However, the stretcher bars are badly damaged, hence the very cheap sale price.