Exploring the Intersection of Structure and Expression in System-Based Artworks
Our 2025 Armory Show presentation brings together works by Alfred Jensen, Amalie Rothschild, Joyce J. Scott, and Madeleine Keesing, to explore how systems—mathematical, linguistic, cultural, or social—shape visual expression and meaning.
Each artist engages structured methodologies as a foundation for intuitive, emotional, and conceptual exploration, revealing the profound ways systems inform contemporary and historical art practices.
Alfred Jensen (1903–1981) fused numerology, ancient cosmologies, and abstraction to create vibrant compositions that bridge logic and intuition. His use of the Fibonacci sequence, astrology, and the I Ching reflects a belief in systems as both formal structure and metaphysical language.
Amalie Rothschild (1916–2001) worked across painting and sculpture, integrating organic and mathematical forms. Her structurally innovative works emphasize balance, tension, and spatial clarity, challenging gendered expectations and asserting system-based abstraction as a site of discovery and tactile engagement.
Joyce J. Scott (b. 1948) employs the peyote stitch—a meticulous off-loom bead weaving technique—to explore systems of race, identity, and power. A MacArthur ‘Genius’ Fellow, her sculptures interrogate social structures through mathematics and craft, merging political urgency with visual complexity.
Madeleine Keesing(b. 1941) creates intricate, meditative paintings built from accumulated marks and repetitive gestures. Her work balances control and chance, using structure as a gateway to spontaneity, inviting quiet contemplation and sensory depth.
Together, these artists reveal how systems function not as constraints, but as catalysts for meaning—transforming color, form, and content into layered visual languages that resonate across time, identity, and experience.