Erika Balogh

Statement

My bi-cultural background has greatly shaped my identity and influenced my artwork as well. When I moved to the United States, I left behind a traditional part of my life associated with my Hungarian heritage, my childhood memories, and my family. I entered into an utterly different culture; a more modern and eclectic society that completely changed my life. However, aspects of my Hungarian traditions continue to form my artwork and my self-presentation. My research interests include: social and economic disparity and exploring alternatives to capitalism, and trademarks and symbols as social signifiers.

Artworks

Through my artwork, I explore the possibilities of tiling pentagons. In this design I show the radial arrangement of pentagon and rhombus shapes, which was described by German artist and mathematician Albrecht Dürer. According to Dürer, there are many ways to tile these two shapes. However, it is not possible to form a tiling using pentagons.

This poster is celebrating the achievements of Albrecht Dürer, a well-known German artist and mathematician. In this design I am illustrating the “thin” tiling with the repetition of pentagon and rhombus shapes, which is the simplest of Durer’s pentagon tiling.