Artists

Edith Zhang

Ph.D. Student

Columbia University

New York, NY, USA

ejz2120@columbia.edu

https://edithjinzhang.github.io

Statement

A guiding principle in my artwork is "primality". To me, the adjective "primal" is related to but different from the adjectives "organic", "simple", "perfect", "primeval", "fundamental". I am enchanted by the sphere, limits, conservation, and singularity, and I attempt to incorporate these concepts into visual form. Many of the ideas I draw or paint are related to mathematics that I learn through courses, research or simply browsing wikipedia. Many of my artworks have a tenuous explicit connection to mathematics, but nevertheless satisfy the same aesthetic sense that drives my interest in mathematical topics. Please check out my website with more information about me, my art, and my math at https://edithjinzhang.github.io/.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Tangence ii '

Tangence ii

46.0 x 61.0 cm

Charcoal

2019

This artwork originated because I bought a compass, and decided to play around with it. The resulting image is reminiscent of two-dimensional Appolonian sphere-packing, of the appearance of oil bubbles on water, and contains some visual similarity to the Mandelbrot set. Vaguely-intestinal shapes stand out against the flat, clean cluster of disks in order to invoke some dimensionality and intrigue. Drawing the packed spheres was a fun challenge, as was shading around the locations where spheres kiss: I aimed to shade as darkly and as sharply as possible in those areas.
Image for entry 'Conservation'

Conservation

50.0 x 65.0 cm

Pen on paper

2020

This drawing consists of many "lines" of dots. In contrast to another dots drawing, dots do not appear and disappear in the interior of the shape, but follow a stricter regimen where they follow each other in a somewhat-regular way, in a sort of distorted grid of dots. If continuously deformed, the drawing should straighten out into a regular grid of dots on the plane. Because of this conservation, tears and wrinkles form in the fabric of dots.