Artist Statement:

This is adapted from a piece I did for a show at the U-turn Art Space in the impossible-to-spell city of Cincinnati. I wanted to somehow create a New Math of Relationships. The problem with relationships is that their complexity belies quantification. Or, at least the kind of quantification that I’m capable of. There is, of course, the binary example used in The Facts of Life theme song—“You take the good, you take the bad, you take them both and there you have the facts of life, the facts of life”—but that seems simplistic. I think of this piece a little bit like Ray and Charles Eames’ The Powers of Ten in that as we get further away—and more equations enter the piece—we see the complexities of relationships a little more. The truth is that this tapestry of equations could stretch forever, or at least as far as human interaction stretches. And that’s, I suppose, what makes relationships so difficult, so rewarding, so brilliant and impossible. And there you have the facts of life.

Learn more—read Jen's introduction to this set.