New Math
Wendy Small has long considered the cyclical connections between analog and digital photography mediums, and the slippages that occur between these worlds. “New Math” represents a departure from the artist’s usual process of working, which was always invested in the material properties of print photography but adhered to a more conventional rectangular format. This new body of work was made as a way to play alongside what Small considers her usual projects. During lockdown, Small found solace and relief in the simple act of cutting and collaging existing photogram prints and scraps, managing the primary shapes and stacking the forms into spirited constructions. These “New Math” collages soon took over the table in the artist’s living space in the way that a puzzle might sprawl over the floor of a family room, with additions and adjustments being made each day, an ongoing process. The works are geometric in form but organic in their somewhat loosely grid-based structures. Each piece incorporates a focused color palette usually dominated by one or two hues, with other chromatic inflections breaking up the all-over image, which is further disrupted by the white spaces of th
