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The Paradox Of It All
May 14, 2008 - 8:11am — Sabrina Artel"Why Bush stopped golfing." Headline news? Please. Have you seen the video “interview” with Bush being asked why he stopped golfing, and he says it’s just not right for the Commander-in-Chief to be playing golf during a time of war?
I could scream and froth at this disgusting display of hypocrisy and corporate media, but instead I’ll turn to art and its power to explore the questions of our existence and where we human beings fit into the universal patterns around us. It’d be easy for me to resort to the duality of good and bad when thinking about Bush and the destruction that’s been caused by his administration, but that is too simple and would mean embracing the idea of duality, which I don’t.
Instead, I’m learning about the mathematical and scientific principles that explore the theories of patterns, repetitions, “Swarm Theory” and networks. I certainly don’t have any answers but more knowledge after speaking with painter Sharon Molloy about her work and the current exhibition that her work is in.
Sharon Molloy’s painting, "Everything and Nothing."
To Infinity and Beyond:
Mathematics in Contemporary Art
The Heckscher Museum of Art
Huntington, New York
April 19, 2008 - June 22, 2008
This exhibition is co-curated by Lynn Gamwell, Director of the Binghamton University Art Museum and author of Exploring the Invisible, Art, Science, and the Spiritual.
Sharon Molloy's painting, "Multitude."
My mind is expanding with mathematical theories (Fibonacci sequences, the Golden Mean, Phyllotaxis, Swarm Theory) and our connection to the patterns we observe in nature. From an interactive site for the mathematical study of plant pattern formation, I learned that the pine cone has 13 visible spirals going one way, eight going the other way and that these numbers are successors in the Fibonacci sequence. This sequence is expressed in numerous things including cells, the chambers of a shell, the curve of waves, the cosmos, the chambers of a heart, the Internet, social networking sites, groups of people, mice, bacteria and so on.
The Internet.
Sharon Molloy thinks it’s a secret that she’s a science nerd (or scholar), but I think it’s quite wonderfully obvious as we talk about her paintings. As I look at her work, the movement of the round shapes, the spirals and the colors stimulate me visually while simultaneously drawing me to the external elements that I observe in nature and in ideas. The swirling colors that Sharon uses are bright and saturated, reflecting a kind of ordered chaos outside of us.
The group show that Sharon Molloy’s work is in is about mathematics, about organization in nature, sociology, biology and the historic connection between science and the arts. Sharon explores the difference between duality and paradox and “creating images that try to reveal what the paradox is.” She says, “What happens when we align ourselves with the patterns within nature?”
Sharon shares with me her process as a painter and her own evolution from the beginning of her career when she focused on the body as a whole: “My work used to be about the body, what is seen, rather than the underlying form and patterns of it.”
I ask Sharon how moving from urban center big cities to the country has impacted her work?
Sharon Molloy:
“You know what I’m reminded of though, with nature and all its beauty, and patterns etc? It’s sometimes easy to forget how totally powerful it is too, and that it has a very dark, scary side, the shadow. The flower is serenely beautiful but a cyclone or an earthquake can destroy me and everything I know... but the pattern inside both is the same. Being up here in the Catskills in winter has reminded me of that too, but of course, not to the extent that other people are reminded of it. More and more I realize that living in nature as I do now has enabled me to delve deeper into the structures, patterns and forms around me, ever changing, evolving, becoming, dying and being reborn all over. I understand and know now that I am part of it, interconnected, it is me. I have always been fascinated by what is beneath the surface of appearance; what seems chaotic is actually bursting with order and vise versa. It is the paradox of life.”
I’m thinking about our relationship to the Swarm Theory and the others as we multiply and organize, as we war and as we create, as the glaciers melt while the polar bears die, and as our mistakes and loving accumulate; what kind of collective intelligence and network is connecting us and even empowering every one of us?
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32 Comments
bushes, spirals and fibonacci
Thanks for this "memo" to spirals, cells, bushes, net and cosmos. Sharon Molloy's "UnitUnity" could be perfect for our office.. ;) - But no, please not Minniesotas art piece! ;P
Maybe it's new stuff for some posters here: Inger Christensen wrote her famous poem "Alphabet" using the alphabet along with the Fibonacci* mathematical sequence. I don't even like math, but I still love her work, which is full of poetry 'cause the sensible melody of her words:
Alphabet
1
apricot trees exist, apricot trees exist
2
bracken exists; and blackberries, blackberries;
bromine exists; and hydrogen, hydrogen
3
cicadas exist; chicory, chromium,
citrus trees; cicadas exist;
cicadas, cedars, cypresses, the cerebellum
4
doves exist, dreamers, and dolls;
killers exist, and doves, and doves;
haze, dioxin, and days; days
exist, days and death; and poems
exist; poems, days, death
[...]
*Fibonacci mathematical sequence: the next number is the sum of the two previous ones (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34…).
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"Love is a pebble which is laughing in the sun"
A Fibonacci Poem
Fantastic! Yes it is amazing that apricot trees, bromine, hydrogen, cicadas, cypresses, cerebellum, doves, dreamers, dolls, killers, haze, dioxin, days, death, poems, exist all together in this place we call home.
impermanence.
It's so amazing what you can see when you look closer/ listen up/ slow down.
I love Sharon Malloy's quote. As a child of the Catskills, I feel lucky that I grew up witnessing the cycle of the seasons and what that feels like/means/can teach me. I aim to remember and relate that wherever I go.
And oh, Andy Goldsworthy and his wonderful, beautiful dedication to the impermanent! If you want to hear a wise man who has thought long and hard about his own relationship to the earth, watch Rivers and Tides.
my feelings are best summed up by this:
http://humorlib.com/items/20061206/Lauras-bush-wm.jpg
Thank you so much for that
Thank you so much for that fucking warning. I was just getting over my therapy from seeing a naked hairy Tom Seleck.
I support bushes, but...errrm, nooo...ahhh not like that! It's just soooooo wrong on soooo many levels.
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
I concur!
I concur!
Fabulous
LOL
Nooooooooooo!
Nooooooooooo!
Sharon Molloy is a hotty!
Nothing gets me hotter than a woman with brains and this chick's got a noggin on her! I don't understand most of this, but her work is amazing! Cheers chicky!
Beyond the pale
I was going to post this in the spawn of bush thread, but I'll post it here instead. For the "first family" to have this wedding right now, with our occupation, I mean "liberation" of Iraq, is completely disgusting. Most people I know are totally feeling the pinch of the economy, and it's pinching more and more with gas (duh), FOOD, heat in your home, etc. This display by the son of a bitch (and I do mean that literally, my dearest barbara) and his family during his "war" and the state of our union is beyond the pale. I was trying to figure out yesterday how to link to the individual segments of the Yahoo Politico bush interview and couldn't figure it out. You should take a moment (just browse under politics in yahoo video, he's right at the top) to listen to the traitor-in-chief discuss a variety of topics. He would "consider" a gas tax holiday. When I heard from little georgie's pie hole what he'd done to personally sacrifice during his "war" by ceasing his golfing, like Sabrina pointed out, and then watched this sorry excuse for a human do his impersonation of Doctor Evil from Austin Powers, it was just too fucking much. But it's too fucking much that they are still in office, still in power, still inflicting so much damage on our nation and other nations. It's not enough what these "people" have done, they seem to HAVE TO bring us to our knees before they exit stage left. It really looks as if these criminals will get away with everything, laughing all the way to the gawd damn bank. Makes me sick. I met a woman named Jamie (Jamilah) from Iran who cleaned my teeth on Monday. I asked her where she was from and she told me. I told her I was so embarrassed to be an American right now, and that I wished I could tell all of the people, especially in the Middle East, that I'm so sorry. She is American too, and she said she is not proud to be American right now either, but we both hoped to feel that way again. Pardon my rant, but if this isn't something to rant about, I don't know what the fuck is. Peace, Jodie
P.S. I was so glad to see you posted this, Sabrina, and I wasn't the only one taken aback, EVEN FURTHER, by this cock sock...no offense to cocks.
What does his daughter's wedding
have to do with anything? She didn't start the war. I don't think children should suffer for their parents misdeeds. I don't think the children of Nazi's should suffer for their parents war crimes, either. For all we know, she may think her dad is a total buffoon worthy of the world's disdain. But, why shouldn't she get married?
Meanwhile, giving up golf is total bullshit - he doesn't pay greens fees I am sure. What a wanker.
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i loved her nuts... my hero flattened in disgrace.. squirrely.
http://www.ourchart.com/node/400573
hmmm
I don't know about golf, wedding or conceive sin.. but you have a nice culo pic there..
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Huh?
Are you kidding me? I have to explain to you why it would have shown SOME sort of decency to wait until at least the muther fucker isn't president? There have been and are a lot of people dying right now under his "watch." I hope they enjoy their bubble world. Peace, Jodie
But we aren't at war. So
But we aren't at war. So say-eth asshole-eth. Remember mission accomplished.
butttt...I have to say...
If you truly want to think about it, let's all post-pone weddings (and parties, or celebrations) - so we all aren't living in that same bubble.
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
agreed
no weddings, parties, happy hours, etc. for the nation.
I'm currently receiving letters from my son from boot camp - and he may end up in a war before too long. I hope not, but you never know.
Surprise or?
Were you expecting him to enlist?
What are his reasons...
It was a surprise,
and his reasons are personal. I don't feel it is appropriate to post them.
I am proud of him and support his decision. :)
Elizabeth Meryman co-curator...
"Infinity" is guestcurated by Elizabeth Meryman, a New York City art consultant, and Lynn Gamwell, director of the Binghamton University Art Museum. The pair earlier planned another analytically themed Heckscher exhibit, "Genetic Expressions: Art After DNA," in 2003. BY ROBERT KAHN April 24, 2008 Newsday
“Dammit, I'm mad! “
Don’t report me! I’m not being rude. That phrase is a Palindrome which is is a word or sentence that reads the same forward as it does backward.
You can also find Palindrome in genes (nucleotides instead or letters in this case), which is an interesting phenomenon in Genetics because it seems to be related to cancer development and and if scientifics find out how it works they may be able to interrupt that process (cancer formation).
Anyhow if you want to have more fun with palindromes (words) you can you here:
http://www.rinkworks.com/words/palindromes.shtml
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mmmmmm. thank you so much! I
mmmmmm. thank you so much! I really want to go check that exhibit out! Art...science and nature....religion. I'm in heaven, wait...no, yeah I am. I'm in heaven.
One of my favorite is Andy Goldsworthy
Math, I find it fascinating that math is life's rule. I can absolutely suck at math - and yet, I understand it -
Math is everywhere...
And we are trained to look for it, and we don't know it. Say the Rule of Thirds and The Golden Mean. I mean these are the very nature proportions that we see throughout life. But it's not the only balance, and that is why not going by these rules (sometimes), in making a piece, is very creative and eye catching. We don't realize that there are actual other mathematical rules that make up our spectrum, and fit into life's structure.
The Golden Mean :
thank you for bringing me aware of that exhibit... :)
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
Sharon is British too...
as is Andy Goldsworthy. Thanks for introducing him to me. I think that because of the way math is taught in school it becomes something intimidating and seemingly disconnected from life instead of the amazing underlying structure of everything around us(including human beings).
I agree. I'm still baffled
I agree. I'm still baffled by their reasoning of teaching Geometry after Algebra. And having an excellent math teacher, who can bring life back into the disconnect of math, will always have a class full of attentive students.
you're welcome:)
rovermom :)
Life is a 3D puzzle and everyone has a piece!
NEW! OurChart Photo Assignment and My Blog
When you talk about patterns....
my mind instantly associate that word with John Nash the Nobel award winner.... and his pattern obsession....which i find fascinating....
Have you looked at a flower recently?
Isn't it amazing. I wandered around my garden yesterday looking at the newly forming buds, the leaves popping out from the ends of the branches and the pine cones under the tree. Each and every one of these things made me reflect back to my body, its repeating patterns and layers of awe inspiring mass.
take a look up
next time and notice the leaves and branches. usually they make a circular pattern off the branch.... fascinating.... some would use that reassuringly to support their case for creation vs big bang. whatever it is, it's fucking awesome. nature is so cool. as much as i would want to live in the middle of a downtown, i can't leave imagine life without the color green - and lots of grass - when i get home from work.
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i loved her nuts... my hero flattened in disgrace.. squirrely.
http://www.ourchart.com/node/400573
I hate math.
It makes me want to cry, jump up and down like a toddler in a tantrum, and force-feed my homework to my neighbor's pit bull.
I don't get it...but beautiful things like this make me glad that I don't.
www.fonfreaka.blogspot.com
Nature
Nature can inspire and teach us (it does to me)
I found this video amazing:
http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/18
(I’m warning you..you can find this video boring :/)
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I'm in Love!
Janine Benyus is incredible. Her story about the foreplay of the Western Grebe was very funny, especially in the context of her serious, although stimulating talk about Biomimicry. Please keep referring me to "boring" talks like this. So, what can life teach us about technology?
Robert Full
He is a biologist who studies cockroach legs and gecko feet and he is using his research to design robotic feet.
Want another boring video?
http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/195
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Keep them coming...
they are the antithesis to boring.
Thanks!
Right on Sharon!
...the perplexing paradox of it all?
the same spirals are beautiful yet lethal? what does it all mean?
Inspired
Reading about Sharon Molloy inspired me to play with my paint program. I'm not really sure what I came up with so I call this one, "Perplexed."
