ARTIST STATEMENT:

This is from a project I’ve been doing since 2002 called New Math. It’s an attempt to quantify the world using words and basic math. I was raised in a household of math and science and although I veered toward words and art I always felt that math was inherently beautiful. I remember when I was taking calculus in college looking at a gracefully curved brick wall and knowing that this could be described using a formula. So why not use formulas to describe feelings, emotions, things, etc.? Why not, indeed. The thing that’s so interesting about science and math—and again, I’m not very good at them—is that they contain a lot of common elements with art: curiosity and an attempt to understand the world are foremost. Whether you’re Jenny Holzer, Niels Bohr, Lawrence Weiner, Albert Einstein or Cy Twombly, you’re still after some sense of what it’s like and what it means to exist. Plus, it’s fun to look.

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