tom johnson
Artists
tom johnson
composer
independent
paris, france
Statement
Since most current mathematical art is computer graphics, it may be good to have some homemade hand drawn works in the exhibition, and I am proud to submit one or two. My training is neither in art nor in mathematics, but rather in music and music theory. I began doing drawings with numbers as a means of finding musical structures for my compositions, but in many cases I consider the drawings valid works of art, even when they did not lead to good musical compositions
Artworks
seven choose three
20 inches by 26 (50 cm x 65 cm)
ink on paper
2008
triplets connected when only one number is different.
I am a composer, and I do such drawings in seeking musical structures.
Many of my drawings with numbers (2007-2014) have been exhibited and about a hundred of them are included in a recent book called "Looking at Numbers," written in collaboration with mathematician Franck Jedrzewejewski and published in 2013 by Springer Verlag/Birkhäuser.
"Seven choose Three" is self explanatory. (12,3,2) is derived from a block design or combinatorial design with 12 elements in sub-groups of three, where each pair of numbers occurs together two times.