Architecture of Form
An exhibition curated by artist, Jude Barton
Curator’s statement:
This exhibition seeks to stand apart from the interpretive bias of the viewer and honor the vocabulary of geometry. The art of geometry is self-referential and intrinsically rejects Socio-political and cultural involvement. It is the purest form of egalitarian expression and accessible to all; there is no mystery and no partiality. The architecture of form provides an aesthetically pleasing framework in which the artists selected for this exhibition may express his or her “inner necessity” as expressed in Kandinsky’s “Concerning the Spiritual and Art” (1911). The shape, color, composition, movement and form emerge through the artists’ own inner dialogue and interaction with the vocabulary of geometry.
Roger Rapp Statement for Architecture of Form 2020
Humans attempt to seek out patterns and invent ways of order to explain our world. Primeval ancestors imagined constellations in the night skies. The circles, squares, triangles and waves, common in ancient cave paintings and rock art around the world, reveal the origins of our fascination with design.
Though for most of our history, religion and myth defined the form of the universe, our search for nature’s rule book led to the invention of geometry and the X-Y-Z network by Descartes. The 20th century brought us different conceptual frameworks. Einstein’s theory of relativity warped the universe with Space/Time. The synergetics of Buckminster Fuller triangulated every relationship. Watson and Crick’s DNA helix revealed structure deep within our cells. Now, we even visualize chaos as a system.
New modes of order are still to be conceived, as artists continue to explore the architecture of form through our creations.
Roger Rapp statement, Architecture of Form 2 2021
Connections. I keep all sorts of references to nature’s bonds and structures in my studio. I see them every day. They are part of my environment, part of my life. Understanding the logic of these connections has become an ongoing source of inquiry in my art.
In the age of enlightenment, the 18th century German philosopher, Georg Hegel, said in his discourse on aesthetics, that logic tells only half the story. For him, logic and reason were not intangible abstractions, but took the form of rationally organized matter. As a sculptor, I relate to that. Hegel stated “There exists an idea for each epoch, which always finds its appropriate and adequate form”. In our era, the ideas surrounding the relationships of space, time and matter are often the organizing principals upon which form is understood. Galileo is credited with the idea that mathematics (and therefore geometry) is the language of the universe. These works are my reflections on nature’s connections and the systems through which we perceive them.
Roger Rapp Statement, Architecture of Form 3 2022
The artworks I bring to ‘Architecture of Form 3’ represent two distinct inquiries. The paintings “Square the Circle” 1 through 6, address the quandary of calculating the area of a circle. Ancient Babylonians, Egyptians and Greeks all pursued their own methods of solving this problem. The best minds of each culture could determine the area of a square, but the circle posed a challenge. While presenting no answer, these works explore a sort of thought process of dissecting two-dimensional geometrical aspects.
In my constructed sculptural compositions, triangulation and rotational factors play a major role. A meaning connected to these works involves the consideration of microscopic or even sub-atomic boundaries, relationships and movement.
I hope that these artworks bring one’s thoughts to the perplexity of understanding how things come together.
Roger Rapp Statement, Architecture of Form 4 2023
My works for the 2023 edition of Architecture of Form relate once again to ancient geometry. This time, the proportions of the Sacred Tabernacle, described in the Book of Exodus inform my works. In that text, very specific materials, colors and dimensions were given by Moses for the constructions of a structure that was able to be assembled and later disassembled for transport. According to the story, growing up as part of the Pharonic house, Moses had been educated to the highest levels of Egyptian knowledge, which included mathematics. It seems likely to me that when he assumed the role of leadership for the newly freed slave class, the need to pass on this knowledge was of of great importance. The ritual folding and unfolding of the curtains by a selected few could reveal to them significant mathematical fundamentals. ‘Curtain Circle’ and ‘Curtain Corner’ paintings explored the relationship between the square and circle. While ‘Rosetta One’ laid out but one of the foundational revelations, my ‘Triple Curtain’ painting has a fractal quality as it repeats in different scales within the curtain pattern.