Math and art collide in Charles City Arts Center’s featured exhibit

By Travis Fischer, tkfischer@charlescitypress.com

A big crowd came to the Charles City Arts Center on Friday, Feb. 7, to enjoy the opening reception for the first featured artist of 2025.

Thirty-one pieces by Andreas Soemadi adorn the walls of the Arts Center this month, showcasing a selection of his uniquely made designs.

A physics instructor at NIACC, Soemadi’s background is deeply rooted in math and science. However, for the last three years, he’s been exploring his artistic side through the use of the computer software, “Mathematica.”

“I used it to do computation,” said Soemadi. “I never thought I could use similar techniques to produce graphics that have no mathematical value or physics value, but an artistic value.”

Designed for producing graphics and charts meant to express academic data, Soemadi has repurposed the software for artistic purposes. Using his knowledge of theorems and polynomials, his art is produced by coding instead of brushstrokes, manipulating the software with math to create his graphic designs.

Instead of displaying trends and results of mathematical data, Soemadi uses the software to create colorful images of aquatic life or cultural icons.

Some of his pieces can include thousands of lines of code, samples of which can often be seen accompanying his work.

After a career in hard sciences, Soemadi said he is enjoying his exploration of the arts. He has attended two Art-A-Fests in Charles City and been selected as the best artist by judges both times.

“It’s interesting to see people that are interested in an artwork that happens to be mathematically based,” said Soemadi.

Many of Soemadi’s NIACC colleagues came to see the opening of his exhibit and he hopes many more will come to view how his work bridges math and art.

“My wish is that people understand that there is a connection between art and math,” said Soemadi. “I hope they can see that’s how it should be.”