The temptation of St. Anthony
No. 226, 1979
(Extra-mathematical associations in mathematical images)
India ink and pencil on paper, 61 x 85 cm.
In this highly chaotic scene, human and animal figures move about, engaged in a wide variety of activities. A giant two-headed monkey races over the horizon beside a figure on horseback, who is carrying a scepter and galloping over a sea of drums. To the left, side by side in a long line, figures sound their trumpets into the sky, while below another figure plays a keyboard. Seated on stereo equipment, yet another figure reads a mathematics notebook, while a central figure puzzles over the entire setting and smokes a cigarette. In a sense, this image was inspired by the medieval legend of the temptation of St. Anthony, combined with certain mathematical ideas and images. For instance, the trumpets in the upper left are based on funnel- shaped surfaces on which a hyperbolic metric is realized. Infused in other parts of the image are subtler mathematical ideas.
