These days you find paintings of fractals and fractal geometry printouts integrated into works of art. Leonardo da Vinci used the Golden Ratio in his works. People have been talking about links between math and art for cen- turies, of course. It’s about trying to find a new synthesis between mathematics and art.

We started talking, and that’s how this project began. I went to see the “UFO” show that Eneas curated, where I saw Terry’s collage in which he juxtaposed Van Gogh’s Starry Night and images of these geometric shapes called “Riemann surfaces.” Around the same time my book had come out, with Van Gogh’s Starry Night on the cover, and inside the same images of Riemann surfaces as in Terry’s col- lage. We were introduced by our common friend Eneas Capalbo. TERRY WINTERS - I remember - we met at the Guggenheim some time after Edward published his book Love and Math.ĮDWARD FRENKEL - That’s right. They talk about the connections between mathematics and art and their upcoming book, to appear in November on the occasion of Winters’s exhibition at The National Exemplar Gallery in New York City.ĮDWARD FRENKEL - I guess, as a mathematician, I’m the one who has to remember the details. Mathematician Edward Frenkel, author of the best-selling book Love and Math, and painter Terry Winters - well known for his biomorphic abstrac- tions - met as a result of a common interest in theoretical concepts and geometric patterns.

Interview and portrait by RACHEL CHANDLER

Edward frenkel books