Frank Murri: The Prime Ingredient in a Big Piece of Pi (π)

April 8 2017 — July 23 2017

The nature of my art practice consists of wall-hung, timber relief sculptural works. These pieces are created by incorporating mathematical formulas, theorems & sequences. This art form I’ve developed advocates pure abstraction in an attempt to synthesize a design aesthetic.

In this exhibition, The Prime Ingredient in a Big Piece of Pi (π), I have encoded and carved thirty-one timber panels with the first 9,014 digits of the Pi number (which represents the ratio of a circle’s circumference to its diameter). Within this sequence, I have highlighted (with the Prime colours), the first four single digit Prime numbers (2, 3, 5, 7) contained within them, in an exploration of the aesthetic in Number Theory.

By looking into the realm of pure mathematics, there lies within a beauty which transcends its usual form.

A quote comes to mind which encapsulates this synergy between mathematics and art:

“Mathematics, rightly viewed, possesses not only truth, but supreme beauty — a beauty cold and austere, like that of sculpture.”
– Bertrand Russell, philosopher and mathematician

The pieces I’ve created are formulated to capture this beauty.

Frank Murri
Newcastle, Australia

8 April – 23 July 2017