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Helena Kauppila

​As a mathematician turned artist, I am interested in methods of reasoning and of persuasion, and how information enters and affects the body. I think in color, and I think through the body, so most of my work is medium to large paintings. Painting allows me to explore and to celebrate color, and to create new meaning with it.

The "Genetics" series came out of a meeting with a scientist, Dr. Ralf Kühn, at the Max Delbrück Center for Molecular Medicine in Berlin. The Kühn Lab utilizes CRISPR/Cas, which is a biological editing tool. I was shocked because it looked like the scientists were just manipulating large text files. These files were documents written in sequences of the letters A, T, G, and C; the genetic code of life on Earth. The emerging science of these codes, and how to manipulate them, promises relief from diseases, extended age, and new materials produced in microbial factories, while also raising concerns about unintended side-effects. In my series, I create paintings that look like text files and works resembling jigsaw puzzles. Just like in genetic engineering, the slightest changes in order, color, and shape alter the meaning and creation of the piece.

"Carbon Assimilation" (2019). 49"x49". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Wheat (RuBisCO)" (2018). 49"x49". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Golden Ratio" (2019) 59"x59". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

Helena Kauppila in a visual artist based in Berlin, Germany.  She is deeply fascinated with bringing to light the creativity inherent in science. Although Kauppila's work is representational, she derives her understanding of representation from mathematics, which can get quite abstract.  Correspondingly, while her colorful canvases may appear haphazard and unplanned, there is a systems thinking behind them. Her work reflects the order of the genome, structure of mathematical theories, and the visceral human connection to nature and intuitive experience.  Kauppila holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the California Institute of Technology, and a Ph.D. in Mathematics from Columbia University.  In addition, Kauppila is the recipient of the Reginald Marsh and Felicia Meyers Marsh scholarship at the Art Students League of New York, where she studied under Larry Poons and Anita Steckel. She recently completed an artist residency in Istanbul, Turkey, and has had solo exhibitions in Helsinki and New York.

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Robert Krawczyk

​In design, every decision you make sets you off to another course that you could never see, sometimes never imagined. Some decisions spawn affects that are simple and are unrelated to the whole, some are highly integrated and interwoven to other parts in a very complex algorithmic fashion.

Cellular automata define a simple life and death process that has a number of elements that may lend itself to explorations in architecture and art. Framework: in two-dimensions an equal spacing between nodes or cells in a grid; in three-dimensions the vertical can accommodate an actual height. In three dimensions, height implies orientation and levels. It implies a base, gravity, and grounding.

The exploration of cellular automata to generate two-dimensional ornamentation is extended into three-dimensions. The pattern is based on generations of survival, birth, and dead. As the pattern evolves, for each cell that is occupied, its location and the number of times it is visited is recorded. This measure of history is then used to determine the rings three-dimensional location and its size; forming multiple layers. The cells for these initial 2D sketches included: circle, square, diamond, octagon, a cross, and an 8-point star.

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Sketch of 3D cellular automata. Image courtesy of the artist.

Sketch of 3D cellular automata. Image courtesy of the artist.

Sketch of 3D cellular automata. Image courtesy of the artist.

Robert J. Krawczyk is an artist based in Illinois. In his 35 years of teaching at the IIT College of Architecture, Krawczyk developed and taught a series of computer-aided design and digital design courses covering 2D and 3D CAD, image composition, animation, and form generation methods across all degree programs. His  research into digital methods in the disciplines of science, mathematics, architecture, art, and technology has been published and presented internationally in the form of prints, web pieces, sculptural, and architectural studies presented in a body of work spanning over one hundred exhibitions and thirty-seven conference papers. 

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Grace DeGennaro

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"Continuum" is a series of three uniformly sized paintings that are rooted in geometrical forms and the process of accretion. Connected by pattern, sacred geometry and mathematical proportions, each work shares an identical matrix of color beads set against shifting color fields. The beads appear optically different in each painting, referencing Joseph Albers’ color theory. Carefully executed, countless rows of stipples suggest strands of sacred beads that provide aid in prayer as fingers move along to count each invocation. Informed by the Slow Art movement, the Continuum series looks to the act of art making, as well as its inherent rituals and meditative qualities.
 
Each painting is rule-based and begins in the center of the canvas where the horizontal and vertical axes cross. A Fibonacci sequence is marked upon the central axis which is then set against layers of ground color. Painted in five gradated colors from white to ultramarine blue, the beads are repeated in a sequence from light to dark to form a diamond shape in the center of the canvas. Added to the five cool colors are two warm colored beads of orange and yellow that appear at the Fibonacci points. These ‘hot spots’ disrupt the sequence of the five cool beads by creating a unique pattern in each Continuum painting. This pattern is continued throughout each of the four quadrants, resulting in a rectangular illusion of texture that suggests a tapestry. Thematically, the series is based on a trinity of elements: thermal, temporal and textural.  Although the paintings are based upon a grid and presented as icons, each picture plane is humanized by a subtle asymmetry generated by the artist’s hand.

"Continuum (Magenta)" (2018). 78"x48". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Continuum (Ultramarine Blue)" (2019). 78"x48". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Continuum (Indian Yellow)" (2019). 78"x48". Oil on linen. Image courtesy of the artist.

​Grace DeGennaro was born in Rockville Centre, NY. Her work has been internationally exhibited at galleries and institutions including Center for Maine Contemporary Art, The Painting Center, Kentler Drawing Space, Tang Teaching Museum, Heckscher Museum, United States Embassy (Qatar and Tanzania), Ellsworth Gallery, Saugerties Performing Arts Factory, Visual Art Center of New Jersey, Hudson River Museum, Schema Projects, Clark Gallery, Aucocisco Gallery, Icon Contemporary Art, and New England Foundation for the Arts. Her work is included in various permanent institutional and private collections including Tang Teaching Museum, Heckscher Museum, Gund Collection, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Ballinglen Arts Foundation Archive, Ireland and Wellington Management. She is the recipient of grants from the Ballinglen Arts Foundation, Maine Arts Commission, and New England Foundation for the Arts. DeGennaro has completed two residencies at The Catwalk Institute, Catskills and was a visiting artist at numerous colleges on the east coast, including Bowdoin College, Skidmore College, and Colby College. She received an MFA from Columbia University and a BS in Fine Arts from Skidmore College. DeGennaro lives and works in Yarmouth, Maine.

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Tibi Chelcea

This series “Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate” consists of works created by repeatedly puncturing a computer punch card with a needle to create patterns. In an earlier era of computing, punch cards were stored in heavy, carefully labeled boxes for repeated use. This series reflects on how those very material representations of computer algorithms and code dematerialized into cloud apps stored and served in an unknown, remote location. The series title itself reminds us of how physical and tangible data and algorithms used to be: “Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate” was a warning printed on punch cards to remind people to avoid rough handling and physically corrupting an algorithm. Of course, this is exactly what creates these works: they are repeatedly “mutilated” with a needle to create patterns where punched holes would have been. Decreasing the size of these holes alludes to the constant process of miniaturization in computing; we used to need machines the size of a room to read punch cards, while now several powerful computers could easily fit onto the footprint of a single punch card. Finally, the very slow and repetitive process of creating these artworks contradicts the ease of writing code these days, and harkens back to the punch card heydays, when it would take many hours and days to weed out compilation errors, and get code to run correctly on a mainframe.

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"Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate #1" (2019). 3.25"x7.375”. Punch card, needle holes. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate #2" (2019). 3.25"x7.375”. Punch card, needle holes. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate #3" (2019). 3.25"x7.375”. Punch card, needle holes. Image courtesy of the artist.

Tiberiu Chelcea takes elements and processes of traditional printmaking and combines them with parts and operations of digital technologies. His work demonstrates unexpected correlations between old and new technologies, and issues of consumption, serial design, automated vs labor-intensive processes, are brought to the fore. His works have been exhibited throughout the United States (New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Iowa and other states) as well as Mexico, Egypt and Brazil, and he has received a Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant in addition to several Iowa Arts Council project grants. Chelcea was born in Romania and came to the United States to pursue a PhD in Computer Science. He has received several awards, fellowships and patents in the field of electronic and digital design, which continues to be a major source of inspiration for his art. ​

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Jody Rasch

My work looks beyond the day to day to discover what the world and universe is really made of. By looking beyond what we see in our daily lives we question our world view, what we are told, and our reactions to information. Through the act of making, I look for a deeper meaning and create a new dynamic in our dealing with our environment.

The series "Initial Conditions" uses an algorithm that takes the first line of dots and then extrapolates the design from there. The ordering of the dots on the first line is random, then a formula combines the previous line to determine the color of the current box.

This is part of chaos theory, where you have initial conditions that dictate the evolution of a system. Sometimes repeating patterns are formed and other times the system becomes chaotic and you can’t tell from the future condition what the initial condition was.
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"Initial Conditions 3" (2019). 17"x11". Acrylic marker on graph paper. Image courtesy of the artist.

"Initial Conditions 3" (2019). 32"x24". Acrylic marker on graph paper. Image courtesy of the artist.

Jody Rasch is a New York-area artist whose work uses themes drawn from science. Rasch uses scientific images and their underlying patterns, to explore the fundamental patterns in the larger world and to look beyond what we see and explore what is behind our conceptions. Rasch is a self-taught artist, but has studied at the Arts Students’ League of New York and The School of Visual Arts in New York and has been exhibiting for over 35 years. Recent museum exhibitions include the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), the David J. Sencer CDC Museum (in Association with the Smithsonian Institution), and Cornell University.

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