2021 Joint Mathematics Meetings
Helen Frank
Artists
Statement
In the tradition of the French avant garde, Helen Frank playfully explores mathematically creative methodologies by inventing and enacting constraints that function as a structure to produce art work; she is often found working within the realms of graph theory.
Artworks
Isomorphic Blue Nude, after Matisse
Digital collage (animation stills)
Watch on YouTube
The graph isomorphism problem asks whether two graphs are the same graph in disguise when there is a one-to-one correspondence between their vertices. A coloring algorithm can be used to solve the graph isomorphism problem by assigning colors to the graph edges; through a process of elimination the algorithm works to a solution whereby adjacent edges are a different color thus making it possible to see that the connection between vertices has been preserved. If a graph can be described as being in disguise, can this also be the case for a work of art? Blue Nude is currently held in the collection of the Pompidou Centre Paris, here she has been given a series of "disguises" and with that, maybe her chance to escape...