Event 1: Hammer Museum

At the Hammer Museum, the exhibition that stood out to me the most was the Gridwork done by Charles Gaines.  It was very easy to draw a connection between mathematics and art in this work because Gaines uses numbers, lines, and grids as his principal tools.

From a close distance the artwork looks extremely geometric with numbers in a variety of primary colors as the solitary objects in each grid, however, when you step back, the combination of the grids creates images of shapes, dancers, and trees.  When you first enter the exhibit, the pieces are relatively simple, creating only shapes.  As you progress, Gaines is able to represent the movement of dancers with his strategic and systematic use of the grids and lines. 

The work becomes more vibrant when Gaines adds a layer of gridwork on an acrylic sheet overlay.  The background is either a black and white photograph or a sketch of branches, both completed on graph paper.  The acrylic overlay extends approximately four inches past the wall, and is the surface for colorful squares with numbers in contrasting colors on top. This two-layer approach is extremely appealing to the eye because it gives more dimension to the artwork.  Changing the angle of the viewer allows for a slightly different perspective because of the two layers; more of the background image becomes visible in different locations.

It is obvious that mathematics is a huge influence upon Gaines’ work.  Without his use of the graph paper-like grid and without his knowledge of geometry, his work would not possess the same sharpness.  The beauty of his work is found in the use of the geometric shapes acquired through knowledge of mathematics, to produce whimsical representations of objects in the natural world.