Bridges 2026 Exhibition of Mathematical Art, Craft, and Design

Gerardo Arizmendi Echegaray

Artists

Gerardo Arizmendi Echegaray

Full Time Profesor/Artist

Actuarial Sciences, Physics and Mathematics, Universidad de las América Puebla

Cholula, Puebla México

gerardocimat@gmail.com

instagram.com

View exhibition history

Statement

The well-known problem of the eight queens is, by itself, interesting. When I consider the construction of other surfaces obtained by gluing the edges of a square, a natural question arises: how many queens can be placed on these surfaces so that none attack each other? The series of works presented here explores this question by showing solutions for several typical surfaces in a simple and clean way. I use Indian ink as a medium for its clarity and precision, which harmonizes with the nature of chess and highlights the form and volume of the surfaces.

Artworks

Image for entry 'Queens on surfaces'

Queens on surfaces

18.0 x 25.0 cm

Indian ink

2026

Contrary to the plane, it is not possible to place 8 non attacking queens in a 8 times 8 board over the surface of a torus, Mobius band or Klein bottle. Here we show how to place 6, 4 and 3 respectively which is the maximum number that can be placed. The geometry of the surfaces make it interesting and challenging to visualize them all. We try to enphasize the form and volume of the surfaces as well as the visualization it self. To show the contrast, we also include a configuration that solves the classical problem on the plane. For every piece, we use Indian Ink over a 18x25cm cotton paper to make it clean and simple.