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.

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.

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!"

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.