Patrick Rapati: Math / Works

Patrick Rapati blurs the line between math and art. In fact, he argues that there is no such divide—both are processual, both are experiments in abstraction.

The paintings in this exhibition represent Rapati’s explorations of the different behaviours that numbers display when engaged in basic mathematical principles. His works celebrate mathematics as a language that is ultimately man made, despite its seemingly dispassionate and clinical qualities. His paintings express his conversation with numbers, an exploration of the behaviours they display when engaged in basic mathematical principles. The presentation is intentionally rough, and speaks to what the artist describes as “a balance between mathematical content and visual aesthetics.” Stencilled numbers are enlivened by colour choices and smudges are complemented with painterly additions. 

Influenced by the freely scribbled creations of American Abstract Expressionist painter Cy Twombly, Rapati cites the line or smudge as the work’s proper subject, each mark mapping his progress. When an error is made, it is scratched out. If a calculation is incorrect, the work is painted over and started once more. The paintings are complete when the calculation can no longer be improved.

“Perhaps it is the search for the balance that produces a palpable tension in the work,” says Rapati. “In the partition drawings, the compositions are developed through the partition of a particular number. The composition is controlled through the production of deletions; this is the artistic side of the work. In Prime Spacing 3, the main impact is colour and form, yet the work itself is a mathematical exploration of the spacing between prime numbers.” 

The Random Number Series provides an additional consideration of how we comprehend mathematics, our innate desire to establish pattern. Each number has been selected indiscriminately (“pick a number, any number”). However, one’s first inclination is to discern a sense of order, a movement from one number to the next.

Filled with smudges and erasures, Rapati’s work shows the perpetual element of human error, as the layering of previous equations and erasures belie the missteps and adjustments inherent in the mathematical and creative processes. In testing the foundational languages that we employ, Rapati shows us that results are not always predictable. It is the process that is beautiful. It is the mystery that is correct.

Patrick Rapati: Math / Works is curated by Mireille Eagan and is on view March 3 to May 30. This exhibition is part of the RBC Emerging Artists series at the Confederation Centre Art Gallery supported by the RBC Foundation.