Biography

Jessica Wynne's newest body of work, Do Not Erase, contemplates the meaning, emotion, and energy of symbols. Her photographs of mathematicians' chalkboards, and the formulas scribbled and erased on them, illuminate the narrative, linguistic, and visionary elements of these representations, providing timeless meditation on the abstraction and intimacy of visual expression.  

 

Wynne studied at the San Francisco Art Institute and Yale University before moving to New York City in 1999. She was first introduced to the beauty of chalkboards through her neighbors Amie Wilkinson and Benson Farb, mathematics professors from the University of Chicago. Intrigued by the imagery she saw on these boards, Wynne directed her focus on capturing-rather than deciphering-the meaning and beauty of these symbols. Reminiscent of Cy Twombly's "blackboard" paintings and Brice Marden's serpentine Letters canvases, Wynne's blackboards illuminate the power of the whirling web of shapes, numbers, and calculations scribbled in the heat of discovery.

 

For Wynne, the poetic and the rational are not mutually exclusive. While the formulas on each board are communicated in highly specialized languages from abstruse subfields such as knot theory, combinatorics, and ergodic theory, Wynne's work embraces the visual sensuality and intuitive impression of these complex calculations, linking them to the timeless lineage of artistry and writing: cave paintings, hieroglyphics, and graffiti.

 

Mathematicians "see images first, not words. They see pictures before meaning," Wynne observes. This relationship between image and thought is one of the primary areas of investigation for her work. It is striking that mathematicians, unlike many scientists, continue to work on chalkboards rather than computers, and Wynne's art explores the aspects of their communication that visual artists have shared throughout time: primal, intimate, and transcendent exchange.  

 

Each mystery unravels itself through unique formal qualities. In some of the chalkboards Wynne represents, the black expanse is riddled with Greek letters, punctuation notations, and sinuous scrawls and loops, evocative of a patterned tapestry or calligraphic scroll. Others meditate on a single, pared down shape or orderly sequence of lines. Foggy mists left behind by an eraser provide a recurrent theme throughout the series, the puffs of opaque powder testifying to the rhythmic bursts of thought and explosions of clarity. Despite the formal and intellectual diversity Wynne's work showcases, each of her chalkboards is united through an exploration of the relationship between form and expression. 

 

Jessica Wynne lives in New York. In the spring of 2021, Princeton Press published the artist's first monographDo Not Erase, the name of her series inspired by notes that mathematicians often leave on their blackboards. Her work has appeared in The New York Times and National Geographic, amongst other publications, and prints are in the permanent collections of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Morgan Library in New York City. Wynne is a professor of photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology. Edwynn Houk Gallery premiered Do Not Erase at The Armory Show 2020, and the artist's inaugural solo exhibition at Edwynn Houk Gallery is in September 2021.

Works
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician Laura Balzano, by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Laura Balzano, University of Michigan, 2019
  • Jessica Wynne, Boya Song, MIT mathmetician's halkboard
    Jessica Wynne
    Boya Song, MIT, 2020
  • Amie Wilkinson, University of Chicago, at the Institut Henri Poincaré
    Jessica Wynne
    Amie Wilkinson, University of Chicago, at the Institut Henri Poincaré, 2020
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician David Gabai, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    David Gabai, Princeton University, 2019
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician Helmut Hofer, from t
    Jessica Wynne
    Helmut Hofer, Institute for Advanced Studies, 2019
  • Green chalkboard in office of Professor Bassam Fayad, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Bassam Fayad, Institut de Mathématiques de Jussieu-Paris, 2019
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician Jonathan Feng, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Jonathan Feng, University of California, Irvine, 2019
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician Nancy Hingston, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Nancy Hingston, Institute of Advanced Studies, 2019
  • Jessica Wynne Mitchell Faulk #1 Columbia University erased chalkboard with mathematical writing
    Jessica Wynne
    Mitchell Faulk, Columbia University, Erased Formula #1, 2019
  • Wall sized chalkboard with erasures and formulas by professor Noga Alon, with wooden chair and desk in front, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Noga Alon, Princeton University, 2019
  • Formulas on chalkboard by mathematician Philippe Michele, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Philippe Michel, Swiss Institute of Technology, 2019
  • Chalkboard depicting knot theory formula from Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Sahar Khan, Columbia University, 2019
  • chalkboard with mathematical expositions formulas written by Tadashi Tokieda, Stanford University, from Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    Tadashi Tokieda, Stanford University, 2019
  • Zhongyi Zhang, Columbia University
    Jessica Wynne
    Zhongyi Zhang, Columbia University, 2019
  • Columbia Common Room
    Jessica Wynne
    Columbia Common Room, 2019
  • Michael Harris, Columbia University
    Jessica Wynne
    Michael Harris, Columbia University, 2019
  • Artur Avila, University of Zurich's blackboard with dynamical systems formulas, from the Do Not Erase series by Jessica Wyne
    Jessica Wynne
    Artur Avila, University of Zurich, 2019
  • Photograph of chalkboard with first graders' drawings in orange chalk by Jessica Wynne
    Jessica Wynne
    First Grade, Trees, Gif-sur-Yvette, France, 2023
Exhibitions
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