"All that comes out are zeros"

Yesterday, I saw Jen Erickson's work at Punch for the second time. This time, the title, "Sad Math", really struck me. These works are sad. Something about the gravitational pull on the oil paint shapes, filled in with graphite zeros and visited by infrequent flying creatures, exerts weight on the brain. Perhaps it's the tension Bonnie noted between depth and flatness, but these pieces evoke absence and emptiness, reflecting the artist's statement about the Internet. It's full of information, but it leaves us none the wiser and empty more often than not. (Also, given binary, half this information is dependent on zeros...)

I was struck by the repetition of the "systems" in these works found on the gallery floor - coincidental, providential, chaotic or inevitable, or all of it. This is a nice show, that might leave you feeling a tiny bit hollow.