A blue-and-white composition in which the letter N is rotated, repeated and compressed across a two-by-two grid. Created with Martin Grasser, this 2023 work extends Molnár’s longstanding exploration of geometric order and deliberate disturbance into a series of 500 generative variations.
Provenance
Released through Sotheby’s in collaboration with Art Blocks in 2023.
Four adjoining fields give Themes and Variations #265 its structure. At upper left, four blue Ns tilt at different angles against white; at upper right, a single white N is turned sideways on blue. Below, heavy, crowded blue forms contrast with a regular array of slender white Ns. Changes in scale, orientation and weight make the same letter alternate between a readable sign and an abstract construction.
The token’s recorded attributes identify a 2 × 2 grid, the letter N and the motif “N en désordre” (N in disorder). Its palette pairs blue #004699 with near-white #FDFDFD. The division into four fields makes the contrast between regular repetition and irregular placement unusually direct. The lower-left forms press against and are cut by their boundaries, while the lower-right grid remains evenly spaced.
For the series, Molnár began with drawn studies of the letters N, F and T arranged within squares. In collaboration with Martin Grasser, these studies became an algorithmic system that varies their position, size, weight, distribution and color. The letters refer to the medium in which the works circulate, yet their treatment also continues her earlier use of writing as a source of geometric form.
Released on 26 July 2023 through Sotheby’s and Art Blocks, Themes and Variations comprises 500 unique works. Molnár connected its title to musical variation, recalling Bach and Beethoven: a limited theme could sustain many different treatments. The series belongs to her late practice, more than half a century after she began using computers in 1968.