This description was written by Clutch Anderson for his piece, Grid Partitions, 2022, Digital print on acrylic.
How do these different colored squares relate to each other? What rules exist to arrange them? What do the colors correspond to?
This piece involves playing with a grid that has different integer subdivisions. I created a 3x3 grid of 9 large squares—observe the vertical and horizontal alignment that divides and defines these grids. Within each of the 9 squares the space is divided into smaller units, represented by the three different colors: purple, pink, and yellow. Each of the 9 squares represent an area of 4x4 units (16 units total). In this underlying 4x4 grid, each color represents a smaller subdivision of that 4-unit length. You will notice that while these colored squares have the same height, they do not share the same length.
The purple squares correspond directly to these units: one purple square represents one unit. Can you use these purple squares as units of measurement and see this underlying unit grid? (Hint: Four purple squares fit lengthwise in each of the 9 squares.)
Where the purple squares represent a subdivision of 4, the pink squares represent a subdivision of 5. You will find that 5 pink squares fit lengthwise in that 4x4 space.
The yellow squares represent a subdivision of 7. In each of the 9 squares, 7 yellow squares fit perfectly lengthwise.
If you observe the piece for some time, you may notice that squares of the same color do not touch themselves. For example, a purple square will never be repeated directly above, below, left, or right; these colored squares never repeat "back-to-back". Additionally, no squares overlap. I did this not only as a fun design challenge (putting this together was like a math puzzle) but to explore how these integer subdivisions compare in terms of space. For example, using the subdivisions and ratios of 4:5:7, how would you define the negative space that emerges within the composition?