Hours: Thursday – Monday, 11:00am – 6:00pm (Closed Tuesday & Wednesday)
11-03 45th Ave | Long Island City, NY 11101 | 718.937.6317

DGCP's Spring Exhibitions & Events:

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May 20 – July 22, 2012
(Un)folding Patterns
Featuring the work of Dr. Erik Demaine & Martin Demaine, Joe Diebes,
Michael Joaquin Grey, Kysa Johnson, Tristan Perich, Jane Philbrick, Thomas Ruff,
Stephen Shaum, R. Justin Stewart, Stephen Talasnik, Vargas Suarez Universal,
Bernar Venet, and Susan Weinthaler

Curated by Ombretta Agro Andruff

Opening: Sunday, May 20, 2:00 -5:00 PM

Click image to view Brochure PDF

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June 3, 2012
Unfolding the Patterns
A Panel Discussion

Moderated by Ombretta Agro Andruff
With artists Kysa Johnson, Jane Philbrick, Vargas-Suarez Universal

When: Sunday, 3:00 -4:30 PM
Seating is limited
RSVP: Email Stacy or call 718.937.6317

From left: Blowup 31 Subatomic Decay Patterns (detail) by Kysa Johnson, Floating Sculpture '09
by Jane Philbrick, Jettison Re-entry II by Vargas Suarez-Universal

Magnetic floating sculptures + subatomic decay patterns + International Space Station
architecture = (UN)FOLDING PATTERNS

The three artists participating in the panel discussion will take us on an exciting journey connecting
visual arts and mathematics, while leading us through the exploration and understanding of the
role played by mathematical formulas, geometrical systems and the laws of physics in their art
practice.  Inspired by sources as disparate as a 1961 sculpture, the geometries of the architecture
of space stations and the fundamental mark-making of the universe Vargas-Suarez Universal,
Jane Philbrick and Kysa Johnson will discuss the projects presented in the exhibition and
contextualize those works in relationship to their entire oeuvre.

Kysa Johnson was born 1974 in Illinois and lives and works in Brooklyn, NY. Her paintings and
installations explore patterns in nature and reveal empirical and metaphorical realities otherwise
invisible to the naked eye. Enmeshing both art history and science, Johnson makes up-to-date
history paintings that mirror current environmental realities. Johson has exhibited in, among
other venues, The Katonah Museum of Art, Katonah, NY 2010; The Hudson River Museum,
Hudson, NY 2010; The 2nd Biennial of the Canary Islands, Tenerife 2009; the Tang Museum,
Saratoga Springs, NY 2009; the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art, Connecticut 2007 and
The National Academy of Science, Washington DC 2004.

Jane Philbrick is an artist, educator, and writer. Her most recent project, “The Expanded Field,”
a 1.5-acre, site-specific installation at MASS MoCA, North Adams, opened to the public September 25,
2011. Philbrick is currently Visiting Professor and Director of Program, C:Art MFA, at the Valand School
of Fine Art, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, where she has taught since 2007, and Visiting Artist
Scholar at the Singapore-MIT International Design Center, Cambridge. Her critical writing on art
andperformance is published by MIT Press and Afterall. Jane Philbrick was educated at Barnard
College,Columbia University, and Hunter College and the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Rafael Vargas-Suarez (b. 1972, Mexico City), more commonly known as Vargas-Suarez Universal,
is an artist based in Brooklyn, New York. Vargas-Suarez was raised in the Houston suburb of Clear
Lake City, adjacent to the Johnson Space Center (NASA). From 1991 to 1996 he studied astronomy
and art history at the University of Texas at Austin and moved to New York City in 1997. He is
primarily known for large-scale wall drawings, paintings, drawings, and sound recordings sourced
from the American and Russian manned and unmanned spaceflight programs, astronomy, and
aerospace architecture. Post-studio research is conducted in Cape Canaveral, FL; Houston, TX;
Korolyov (Moscow), Russia; and Baikonur, Kazakhstan.

His writings have been published by Right Brain Words, New York; Edizioni Charta, Milano and
The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA

Selected collections include: The Museum of Modern Art Library, Whitney Museum of American Art,
El Museo del Barrio, Queens Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Dieu Donne Papermill, Inc.
Archives (all in New York); Jersey City Museum, NJ; Rhode Island School of Design Museum of Art,
RI; Baltimore Museum of Art, MD; Mexic-Arte Museum, Austin,TX; Palazzo delle Papesse Centro
Arte Contemporanea, Siena, Italy; DA2 (Domus Artium, 2002) Salamanca, Spain; Winzavod
Contemporary Art Centre, Moscow, Russian Federation, and the UBS Art Collection.

His public work has been commissioned by LibertyHealth Foundation, Jersey City, NJ (2004);
Institute of Puerto Rican Cultures, San Juan, P.R. for the 3rd Poly/Graphic Triennial of San Juan
(2012) and Public Art for Public Schools, New York City Dept. of Cultural Affairs (2012-2015).

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June 10, 2012
ZOOB
Demonstration & Workshop

Led by artist Michael Joaquin Grey

When: Sunday, 3:00 -4:30 PM
We are able to accommodate 15 participants. Open to all ages.
Registration required: Email Stacy or call 718.937.6317

ZOOB is a modeling system and toy that emulates dynamic and living systems. ZOOB is based
on how we are 'built' from inside ou—with body empathy starting molecules to complex bio-motion. 
From DNA to anatomy, ZOOB is based on principles of natural systems and complexity.

During the first part of the workshop the artist will speak about the genesis of ZOOB, its
many applications in fields as varied as pedagogy, astrophysics and genetics, as well as give a
demonstration of how the system works.  The second part will require the active participation
of the audience's members who will be encouraged to 'play' with ZOOB sets available at the gallery.

Despite a thriving gallery career, in 1996 Michael Joaquin Grey founded the company Primordial, LLC
to market and distribute his biological and network inspired building system, ZOOB. Grey hoped to
foster the capacity to model the complex, networked nature of life in young minds by providing a
system that compensated for the inadequacies he perceived in traditional building block systems.
Pedagogy and first principles are a very important facet of his work at all levels. Grey has fascinating
observations about the crucial role that first principles set during early education influenced the
Bauhaus and late Modernism.

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June 21, 2012
Folding Paper: Visual Art Meets Mathematics
Artist Talk

With Dr. Erik and Martin Demaine

When: Sunday, 3:00 -4:30 PM
Seating is limited
RSVP: Email Stacy or call 718.937.6317

From left: Curved Crease Sculpture 0271, 0273 by Erik and Martin Demaine

Mathematics and algorithms have enabled the art of paper folding to reach incredible heights,
creating beautiful sculptures from a single uncut square of paper.  The artists will describe how
mathematical "universality" results enable the design of origami in almost any shape, and give
examples of the artand science this theory has created. They will screen a brief video that
demonstrates the intricate process of creating one of their folded sculptures. The artists will
address their varied influences and describe the ways in which they have fun combining art
withscience. The audience is not required to have a background in either art or science. 

Erik and Martin Demaine use their exploration in sculpture to help visualize and understand
unsolved problems in science, and their scientific abilities to inspire new art forms. Their artistic
work includes curved origami sculptures in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art
(MoMA) in New York, and the Renwick Gallery in the Smithsonian. Their scientific work includes over
60 published joint papers, including several about combining mathematics and art.

The Demaines are a father-son math-art team who exhibit and lecture throughout the country
and around the world. Martin started the first private hot glass studio in Canada and has been
called the father of Canadian glass. Since 2005, Martin Demaine has been an Artist-in-Residence
at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Erik is also at the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, as Professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
He received a MacArthur Fellowship in 2003. In these capacities, Erik and Martin work together
in paper, glass, and other materials.

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