Sacred geometry meets the digital age in Xylor Jane’s paintings, which she divides into squares, vectors and tessellations. They combine folk-magic feel with a computer-screen glow.
In certain works, Jane uses a grid of numbers that add up the same in every direction. In other instances, she explores the way the seconds in each day are micro-adjusted to coordinate time across the globe.
Magic Square for Finding Lost People is a luminous regression of nesting shapes and mathematical patterns. It contains triangles that puzzle together neatly corralled dots and an acidic rainbow palette that vibrates with psychedelic presence.
In two pieces entitled Leap Second, she emphasizes the decorative and symbolic qualities of numbers, constructing them from radiant squares of color. The division of time into fleeting units seems like collective, obsessive-compulsive lunacy—though not lacking in occult significance.
Jane’s accumulation of tiny marks creates opportunities to meditate on the counting we do, the organizing and pattern tracking we hope will one day help to crack life’s code.—Jennifer Coates