By CHRIS LOVELL
Web Editor
Ever wonder what connections mathematics has with art? Well, this past weekend the Saint Rose chapter of the United Mathematics Organization (UMO) took a trip to the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art (MASS MoCA) to explore that question. The visit to MASS MoCA focused on the Sol LeWitt: Retrospective gallery and its ties to mathematics.
The gallery is comprised of 105 of LeWitt’s installations which are known mainly for the deceptively simple geometric basis and large scale. Most of the installations occupy full walls, which were specially built per LeWitt’s own specifications. LeWitt is widely regarded as one of the leading forces in Minimalism and Conceptual art. Each of his wall drawings starts off as a simple diagram and a set of instructions to be followed by the draftsman who installs the artwork. The gallery was installed over the course of a six-month period in mediums ranging from pencil to ink washes and acrylic paint, all meticulously following LeWitt’s instructions.
Some of the more obviously mathematical pieces included Wall Drawing 51 (where all architectural points were connected by straight lines) and Wall Drawing 146a (which is the set of all combinations of 20 simple figures).
Wall Drawing 51 takes up the entire length of the main wall as you first enter the gallery, and immediately points out the connections between all of architectural points, which usually go unnoticed. The interesting thing about Wall Drawing 51 as well as a few other of the installations is that because of the fact that they are based on the walls they are installed on, they are radically different every time that they are installed. Throughout LeWitt’s work, a small group of simple geometric figures are seen repeatedly, some more abstract than others. Wall Drawing 274 showcased these 6 figures, but the location of these figures are put into the hands of the draftsman installing the piece. The six figures that LeWitt believed to be essential to drawing are the circle, square, triangle, rectangle, trapezoid, and parallelogram.
From the simplicity of the draftsman choosing the location of the six figures evolved the concept for Wall Drawing 305. This installation is made up of 100 random, but specific points that are determined by the draftman. They are random in the idea that the instructions to get from point to point were created randomly, and the points are specific because their location is based off the architecture of the wall it is installed on, much like many of LeWitt’s other early works.
The gallery was installed in 2008, and will occupy the space at MASS MoCA until 2033, making it the longest running installation at the museum, allowing for multiple generations to explore the exhibit.
If students are interested in learning about other mathematical connections to the real world, the United Mathematics Organization meets every Friday at 2:30pm in Albertus 101. UMO will be hosting the event “Probability Knight” on Thursday, November 7 from 6pm to 9pm in Standish A & B. For more information about the organization or to sign up for their mailing list, contact UMO President, Chris Lovell, at lovellc083@strose.edu.
