0+0=7

Suzanne McClelland

2015 · Pigmented handmade cotton and linen paper and collage · Drawings and Prints

McClelland engages mathematical formulations as another form of language. 0 + 0 = 7, from the series Bad Math, makes reference to the 1967 painting Solutions V by the provocative postwar German artist Sigmar Polke. Both artists used incorrect equations in an absurdist manner. McClelland’s loose, gestural strokes recall writing on a blackboard or graffiti; her numbers deviate from the standardized numerical figures seen in everyday life and also employed by Polke and Jasper Johns in their art. Rendered in a palette of black, white, and gray, McClelland’s numbers and symbols float across the pictorial surface like thoughts made visible. Their flexibility and fluidity, and the manner in which they seem to appear and disappear into the composition, reflect ambiguities and contradict common notions about abstract analytical thought.

Artist

Suzanne McClelland

Date

2015

Medium

Pigmented handmade cotton and linen paper and collage

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Stewart S. MacDermott Fund, 2016