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For my first event, I visited the Hammer Museum.  As I was walking through the museum one particular exhibit caught my eye.  It was Charles Gaines’ Gridwork.  This exhibit consisted of a collection of beautiful, vibrant trees that Charles Gaines had created through the integration of mathematics and art.

Each piece of art contained a painted tree on graph paper, overlaid with a piece of Plexiglas with another gridded painted tree.  One thing that struck me was that from afar, the paintings look like normal, colorful trees, however, if you examine the tree closely, you will see that each small square has a number in it.  Charles Gaines designed his work so that the tree was gridded and drawn out mathematically and symmetrically. 

As discussed in week two’s lecture on math and art, Charles Gaines’ display in the Hammer Museum serves as a wonderful example of how mathematics and art are intertwined.  I believe that the way he intentionally portrays the mathematical design behind his artwork is the one detail that makes his work so unique.  His collection of grid work is not only visually stunning, but also special because of its integration with graph paper.

I would highly recommend visiting this exhibit because of its incredible creativity.  Charles Gaines’ grid work would be beneficial to see because it opens up your eyes to a kind of artwork that is uncommon and extraordinary.  It is proof that mathematics and art are in fact related and used together to create masterpieces.