Event 2 - Hammer Museum

I finally had the opportunity to visit the Hammer Museum this Sunday. I had most fun looking at the exhibitions from the Heatherwick Studio and Charles Gaines’s Gridwork collection. 

Me at the Hammer Museum :)

Numbers and Trees by Charles Gaines

As a maths major, I was immediately entranced by Charles Gaines’s work. The first thing that caught my eye was the “Number and Trees” artwork. They are a series of work which painted acrylic sheets are layered over drawings of trees. The painted tree is composed of numbered squares that are overlaid so that the numeric information about the other trees in the series is collapsed into one image. From afar, I did not even notice the numbers; the combination of the colour form a cohesive presence on the grid. According to Ken Johnson’s article on the New York Times, “most immediately apparent in the number-based works is the relationship between the analog and the digital: between the organic, natural forms captured on photographic film and the abstract mapping of these forms by the numbered squares of the rides”¹. This coincides with the relationship between art and science in artwork. 

Landscape: Assorted Trees with Regression by Charles Gaines

Another number-related artwork by Charles Gaines is “Landscape: Assorted Trees with Regression”. As a statistics minor, this really brought me back to all the regression graphs I drew during class. He combined regression graphs with different drawings and photographs of trees - the perfect example of combining art and science. According to an interview article on LA Times which explores the underlying idea behind the Gridwork series, Charles Gaines stated, “I have been looking for something that was a systematic way of realising a form. In Western society, the grid is it.”²

Expanding Furniture!

As I wandered around the Heatherwick Studio, I couldn’t help but be fascinated by the “Expanding Furniture”, which is created by the collaboration of art and science. It displays an aluminium table that can change its shape to fit different living spaces. Nowadays, the average home size in New York City is 1124 square feet and is steadily decreasing with increasing property prices.³ It is incredibly convenient to have malleable furniture when living in a city.

I would really recommend this museum to everyone since I believe the displays show the close relationship between math and art, which is discussed in lectures of unit 2. Also, the Heatherwick Studio is a whole lot of fun with a lot of creative inventions! 

Sources

1.Johnson, Ken. "Systematized Postmodernism." The New York Times. The New York Times, 31 July 2014. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/01/arts/design/charles-gaines-gridwork-at-studio-museum-in-harlem.html>.

2.Miranda, Carolina A. "How the Dense Grids of Artist Charles Gaines Took the Ego out of Art." Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 3 Mar. 2015. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/miranda/la-et-cam-charles-gaines-interview-20150228-column.html#page=1>.

3.Calin. "Average Home Sizes in Washington D.C., Atlanta Twice As Much as in New York | PropertyShark.com." PropertyShark Real Estate Blog. Property Shark, 04 Jan. 2012. Web. 17 May 2015. <http://www.propertyshark.com/Real-Estate-Reports/2012/01/04/average-home-sizes-in-washington-d-c-atlanta-twice-as-much-as-in-new-york/>.