In his 1967 text ‘The Secrets of Ancient Geometry’, Danish author, Tons Brunes revealed the hidden mathematical truths found in ancient human creations such as the Egyptian pyramids the Grecian temples and remarkably the proportions of the curtains covering the Jewish tabernacle described in the book of Exodus. 

    Each curtain was composed of five strips of cloth one unit wide and seven units long.  When placed in an overlapping form they reveal a method of finding geometric forms in a variety of proportions, such as circles or squares half or twice in area, squares that are 20% larger than a given square or finding a straight line equal in length to the quarter circumference of a circle. 

    This type of proportional relationship was invaluable to the ancients in both architectural and city planning projects.

    These three works are entitled “Art is Not About Words”.  Although they play with some of the same mathematical elements of the previous works, they address that place without words, where visual noise and even some confusion hinder the acquisition or resolution of an idea.  Each are 16” square and painted on Masonite.  Their perimeters have been rubbed with graphite to give a metallic effect.

    Art comes from a place without words.  You may have been there yourself, trying to figure out how something works, trying in your mind to fathom relationships between things or the mechanics of how something works.  It is like a meditative state where the words that explain things or even name things drop away.  I am left with internal images that can turn, tumble and join and then disappear at the mere thought of a word.  Joseph Campbell called this mental state living in eternity, for it is a space without time as well.  Sometimes, the artist in his studio can work in a space without words and time.  What I am left with in those moments is a direct connection to the work, the tool box of my personal technical abilities and my emotions.  Architect, Philip Johnson once said when asked to describe his experience while viewing the Bilbao, Guggenheim by architect Frank Gehry, that “Art is not about words.  It is about tears and joy, tears and joy.”

Artist, Roger Rapp in his studio at work on a Curtain Painting.

   Many of these works also draw inspiration from the Archimedes Palimpsest, the oldest surviving  manuscript of mathematical thought by the Greek Philosopher.  The paintings employ the mystery of the hidden text of a palimpsest.  Sometimes in problem solving we lack the needed language or theory for completion of our task.  This series of paintings explores some of the relationships found within the tabernacle curtains, as well as the process of problem solving itself.

    These three works are also in the form of a palimpsest and are called Antiphon 1, 2 & 3.  The overlapping text refers to the relationships that are contained in the paintings.  They are all Acrylic on Masonite and 21” square.

    These paintings are called “Square the Circle, 1,2,3 & 4”.  They are Acrylic on Masonite and 16” square.  By removing the two wine colored bands at the left and right, the ancients were left with a rectangle equal in area to the circle.

    In Curtain Corner, 2 & 3, 23” square, Acrylic on Glass Cloth, framed in Mahagony toned wood, the overlapping strips of the Tabernacle Curtain are evident.               

Foundation 1 & 2            Acrylic on Masonite 12” x 36” each

Curtain 1

Acrylic on Masonite

32” square

Curtain 2

Acrylic on Masonite

32” square

Curtain 3

Acrylic on Masonite

32” square

Curtain 4

Acrylic on Masonite

32” square

Rosetta 1

Acrylic on Canvas

44” x 56”

Rosetta 2

Acrylic on Canvas

48” x 60”

    In Curtain Circle, 2 & 3, 23” square, Acrylic on Glass Cloth, framed in mahagony toned wood, the smaller square drawn inside the circle is one half the area of the larger square.

Mandala

Acrylic on Masonite

48” Square

Triple Curtain

Acrylic on Canvas

60” x 40”

Ten Sheets

Acryilic on Canvas

40” x 28”