[ISEA95] Artist Statement: Paul Hertz – Deadpan, or The Holy Toast

Artist Statement

This work fills in a mathematical idea with evocative images and text. 17 topologically unique divisions of square become bites out of a piece of toasted bread; the number 17 recurs as 17 phanar symmetries of a spiral motif on cloth. The cloth might recall waves on an ocean, or trade across oceans. The toast floats over the cloth, while on the toast silhouettes of islands filled with text suggest a linkage of colonisation to consumption of information.

  • Paul Hertz (USA) teaches and develops multimedia at Northwestern University. He exhibited his painting and performed musical and theatrical compositions for many years in Spain, before turning to computers at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, as a fellow of the Center for Advanced Studies in Art and Technology.