Xylor Jane Bombinating 2009 oil on panel 44" x 41"
Xylor Jane Tunnel 2008 oil on panel 31" x 29"
Xylor Jane Gates 2008 oil on panel 53" x 43"
The dots and numbers seen in the paintings in Xylor Jane's recently-closed show, "N.D.E.", at CANADA actually add up (unlike the dots and numbers assembled by what was formerly, and rather quaintly referred to as our "financial system"*). I met the artist when I visited the gallery last weekend, but I think that because I already had a huge respect for the work, I was too intimidated to ask her for details.
The gallery assured me that Jane definitely uses a method in selecting and arranging what might appear to be a random working of digits. My informant admitted that he himself probably hadn't comprehended it fully when the artist described it, and although he gamely began to explain it (in this case to someone who almost certainly wouldn't have understood it anyway), we eventually decided to spare each other further embarrassment and I went back to drooling over the art.
I've just read the press release again, and I'm still stumped.
I can only say that I don't think these works could possibly have the power they do, even if you weren't aware there was some kind of very personal "formula" involved, if they owed their appearance to aesthetics or mathematics alone.
I love these pictures.
*
has everyone seen this? [a graph like this can only work its full magic in a hard copy]