An algebraic Kummer surface and its singular points
No. 244, 1971
(Theory of algebraic surfaces)
India ink, gouache, and pencil on paper, 38x52 cm.
In this complicated contortion of reality, where rigid rocky surfaces bend and meld into one another, we find a cold world, devoid of life and dominated by massive shapes that control the very space in which they are centered. Some surfaces divide into bands. Others whirl and ripple as if they were shaped by motions of some fluid flowing over them. The light too is cool, as if trapped in a never-ending reflection, bouncing back and
forth within this perturbed space.
From a mathematical point of view, the central figure here is a representation of a Kummer surface, with eight real double points and double planes. In a sense, we can think of the theory of algebraic surfaces as its own very special world, populated by some very remarkable objects.
