Left: Nearest Neighbor Problem, Right: Curve of Pursuit, both drawings © Sarah Stengle & Tim Carpenter, 2014. Drawn in pencil by Sarah Stengle onto silver gelatin photographs by Tim Carpenter, 11" x 8". These works are from a collaboration that resulted in two sets of 20 drawings.
Postcards From Perga
Book One Proposition 54, Asbury Park Boardwalk, 2015,
ink on found postcard, 4" x 6"
Apollonius of Perga did highly sophisticated mathematics with simple drawing tools while exploring ratio, proportion, and intersection—all of which I associate with visual art. I decided to use the imagery found in his work on Conics in a series of drawings called Postcards from Perga in which I am imposing Apollonius of Perga’s mathematical work onto postcards. My intention is to integrate the postcard image with the lines of the proof in such a way as to evoke emotions rarely associated with mathematical proofs, or for that matter, postcards. Mathematical imagery from the classical era is nearly timeless, and acts as a gentle foil, quietly amplifying the postcard’s ephemeral nature.
Photos: Nell Ytsma
Nearest Neighbor Problem Curve of Pursuit