Closed Series

Provenance

Con(jug)ate 3, 1977. Clear vinyl. 12 pieces, each app. 2'x3'x2'.

Con(jug)ate 3 as shown here is part of an exhibition entitled "10 from the File" curated by Lawrence Alloway for the Columbus Museum of Art in 1977. The work is a set of mirror symmetric forms with centered symmetry in a sequence of which one half is right screw followed by a second half that is a mirror sequence in left screw. The exhibition included line drawings showing the spatial twisting of the seams.

The series of Con(jug)ates and the 59 individual morphologically distinct pieces of "Anolatabulata" were closed permutative sets which eventually taught me something about symmetry, about how to construct an order and provided insight into both the startling similarities and profound differences found in biological species. At one point, my studio awash with forms, I contacted mathematician Phil Huneke who was able to relate the work to smooth tesselations of a sphere doing so in a mathematical conference paper. The collaboration was both helpful and interesting. Dr. Huneke recognized that a Zeeman's Dunce cap would be the ideal way to deploy the congruent Anolatabulata in a way that showed their relationship one to another in all directions. He did so, as with all his work, via mathematical formulations and tiny diagrams. At one point, because it became clear that our conceptual processes were very different, we found it necessary to work through all the pieces matching Dr Huneke's diagramatic notations against the individual pieces. Distracted by the physicality of the forms I struggled to find an order, just as I had struggled in life-sculpture. He grasped the structure, hardly noticed the forms.

Details of the 7 Con(jug)ate sets can be found in the "Con(jug)ates. 1976-77" section of "Work by Dated Period".

Provenance for Con(jug)ate 3: Forms and the charcoal drawings of their twisting lines - 1977, Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus,OH.

Analytical strip and dot drawing: 1979, Bertha Urdang Gallery, New York, N.Y.