Artist statement
Since 1980, I have explored mathematics as a language for poetics. My work serves a polyaesthetic vision of mathematical poetry in which equations and their variables become structures for metaphor. When the variable is understood flexibly — as a placeholder for any concept or experience — the equation transcends its scientific function and enters a realm of poetic expression. This freedom transforms mathematics from a tool of denotation into a system of connotation.
I map concepts into equations from physics, converting scientific relationships into metaphoric ones. These mappings create direct bridges between the physical and the conceptual — between the measurable and the ineffable. Alongside the poetic equation, I incorporate visual imagery to introduce a second aesthetic language, merging visual form, lexical poetics, and mathematics into a single polyaesthetic expression.
Through this synthesis, my work engages both spiritual and cultural dimensions, articulating a personal mythology born from my ongoing effort to understand my place within nature, the human condition, and society at large.
Biography
In 1980 Kaz Maslanka received his BFA in Sculpture from Wichita State University, where he also studied music, mathematics, and physics. He has been involved in the arts for more than fifty years and has been pioneering mathematical visual poetry since the early 1980s. He has a strong international presence, not only through his blog Mathematical Poetry but also through exhibitions of his work. He currently lives in San Diego, California, working as an artist, and also has a background in engineering.
One of his mathematical poems was nominated for a Pushcart Prize in poetry by ZYZZYVA, a literary journal based in San Francisco. He has published numerous peer-reviewed papers on mathematical visual poetry and the aesthetics thereof. He serves on the advisory board of the San Diego–based Sonic Arts Studio, a group of composers and musicians devoted to the development and proliferation of microtonal music, and formerly served on the advisory board of the Bronowski Art and Science Forum in Del Mar, California.
Selected publications
- A Cognitive View of Pandemic Meditations Journal of Humanistic Mathematics, Vol. 12, No. 1 — 2022
- Newton’s Third Law in Karmic Warfare The Transdisciplinary STEAM+ Journal, Claremont Colleges — 2016
- Korean Seon (Zen) and Mathematical Visual Poetry Proceedings of Bridges 2014, Gwacheon, South Korea
- Polyaesthetics and Mathematical Poetry Journal of Mathematics and the Arts, Vol. 1, No. 1 — 2007
Selected exhibitions
Solo
- Spectrum of Jewels: The Illumination of a Dodecorthogonal Space Poem The LAB Gallery, New York City — 2010
- Maslanka and Larsen McFarland Gallery, Wichita State University — 1980
- One-Man Exhibition Chanute Art Gallery, Chanute, Kansas — 1973
Group — international
- Bridges Seoul, Gwacheon National Science Museum, South Korea 2014
- Bridges Jyväskylä, University of Jyväskylä, Finland 2016
- Bridges Waterloo, University of Waterloo, Canada 2017
- Bridges Enschede, Netherlands 2013
- Bridges Pécs, Hungary 2010
- Bridges Donostia, San Sebastián, Spain 2007
- Bridges London, England 2006
- Renaissance Banff, The Banff Centre, Canada 2005, 2009
Group — United States
- Kinetics, Art Center (A Reason to Survive), National City, CA 2022
- Rule 42, Bonita Museum, Bonita, CA 2021
- DNA of Creativity, Oceanside Museum of Art, CA 2014
- Art + Science, Escondido Municipal Art Gallery 2011
- American Mathematical Society Exhibition, San Diego 2008
- American Mathematical Society Exhibition, San Antonio 2006
- Independent Artists of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City 2002
Elsewhere
- YouTube — Mathematical Poetry
- Substack
- Mathematical Poetry — the blog
- Psychronometrics 1983 interactive mathematical poem
- A Spectrum of Jewels — film The LAB Gallery, New York City
- Interview — San Diego Voyager