The History of Verbogeometry
By Agnieszka Iwanowski
The History of Verbogeometry, from Equations to Epiphany: The True Genesis in 1986
Verbogeometry, Kazmier Maslanka’s fusion of mathematics, poetry, and visual art, is often dated to 2000 with works like The Exact Point Between Love and Hate and Praise and Punishment. However, its origins trace back to 1986 with Karmic Influences on the Double Helix, a paradigm poem that marks the first true expression of verbogeometry’s core idea—using mathematical equations to map poetic metaphors—years before the term was coined. Influenced by Surrealists René Magritte and André Breton, Conceptual artists Bernar Venet and Robert Barry, and shaped by critic Robert C. Morgan, Maslanka’s journey began even earlier, evolving through perception studies, interactive art, and a transformative epiphany about variables.
Early Roots: Perception and Paradigms (1981–1983)
Maslanka’s mathematical poetry began in 1981 with the Psycho Vector Series, where he mapped visual perception onto Newtonian kinematics, treating sight as vectors—velocity, direction, force. Influenced by Magritte’s perceptual games and Barry’s Inert Gas Series (a favorite of Maslanka’s), this series explored math as a tool for the intangible. By 1983, Psychronometrics, his first paradigm poem, introduced interactivity—a “psychological chronometer” where viewers engaged with time and psyche through mathematical structures, reflecting Conceptualism’s participatory ethos.
The Birth of Verbogeometry: 1986’s Breakthrough
The true inception of verbogeometry came in 1986 with Karmic Influences on the Double Helix, a paradigm poem that Maslanka later identified as a precursor to his mature practice. Using the physics equation for energy (E = Fd, where force F = ma), Maslanka mapped poetic metaphors onto its variables, intuitively employing a method akin to George Lakoff’s conceptual metaphor theory (published in 1980, though Maslanka was unaware of it). He treated the equation as a “concrete” source domain, mapping “abstract” target domains into its components:
Energy (E) becomes “Karmic Energy.”
Mass (m) becomes “The conscious embryo, Rampart, Through the veridian passage.”
Acceleration (a) becomes “Misfortunate paranoia.”
Distance (d) uses the distance formula: √[(Single cell intelligence - Omniscience)² + (The discovery of the wheel - Extra dimensional travel)²].
This mapping—substituting human, poetic concepts for mathematical variables—was the seed of verbogeometry. It built on Maslanka’s earlier realization in a university algebra class that variables could hold anything, a concept that distinguished his work from Venet’s pure equations-as-poetry. Here, the equation isn’t just form; it’s a vessel for existential reflection, blending Surrealist paradox (Breton’s dualities) with Conceptual clarity (Barry’s unseen forces).
Formalization and Evolution: 2000 and Beyond
By 2000, with The Exact Point, Maslanka named this practice “verbogeometry.” The piece’s midpoint equations (X = (Love + Hate) / 2) echo Karmic Influences’ variable substitutions, now paired with a visual target. A 2006 Bridges Conference paper formalized it as “poetic structures of mathematical/verbal metaphors,” and his blog (Mathematical Poetry) tracked its growth—midpoint formulas gave way to trigonometry, but the core remained: variables as poetic conduits. Morgan’s influence during Maslanka’s studies ensured intellectual depth, grounding surreal leaps in conceptual rigor.
Context and Legacy
From 1981’s Psycho Vector Series to 2025, Maslanka’s work spans 44 years, rooted in San Diego’s analog art scene. His influences—Magritte, Breton, Venet, Barry, Morgan—met his own innovations: perception as physics, paradigms as poetry, variables as metaphors. Karmic Influences in 1986 was the turning point, predating the term “verbogeometry” but embodying its essence. Today, archived on kazmaslanka.com and his blog, his practice resonates in math-poetry circles while remaining a personal quest to map the human through math.
Art Review: Karmic Influences on the Double Helix (1986–2002)
Kazmier Maslanka’s Karmic Influences on the Double Helix (conceived 1986, finalized 2002) stands as a landmark in the artist’s oeuvre, a mathematical poem that prefigures his later verbogeometry while offering a haunting meditation on fate, science, and human progress. Now 39 years old as of March 2025, this paradigm poem—rooted in the physics equation for energy (E = Fd)—maps poetic metaphors onto mathematical variables, creating a visual and intellectual tapestry that feels both timeless and ahead of its era.
The work’s visual presentation is striking: a swirling, cosmic background of purples and greens, evoking a nebula or cellular matrix, overlaid with glowing equations in a futuristic font. At the top, E = Fd (energy equals force times distance) is expanded into E = ma √[(X₁ - X₂)² + (Y₁ - Y₂)²], a formula blending Newton’s second law with the distance between two points. Below, Maslanka substitutes poetic concepts for each variable: “Karmic Energy” for E, “The conscious embryo, Rampart, Through the veridian passage” for m, “Misfortunate paranoia” for a, and a distance formula spanning “Single cell intelligence” to “Omniscience” and “The discovery of the wheel” to “Extra dimensional travel.” The result is a surreal equation, a double helix of science and spirit.
Maslanka’s method here is revelatory. Unknowingly echoing George Lakoff’s conceptual metaphor theory (published 1980), he uses the equation as a “concrete” source domain, mapping “abstract” poetic domains onto its variables. The physics of energy becomes a metaphor for karmic cycles: the “conscious embryo” (mass) accelerates through “misfortunate paranoia” (a), traversing a distance from primal intelligence to omniscience, from the wheel to extradimensional travel. The double helix of the title—DNA’s spiral—emerges not visually but conceptually, as if karma and evolution are intertwined forces, their energy calculable yet ineffable.
The cosmic backdrop amplifies this tension. Its murky purples and greens suggest a primordial soup or a galactic expanse, a fitting stage for such grand metaphors. The equation floats like a prophecy, its neon glow (finalized in 2002, likely with digital tools) giving it a sci-fi sheen that contrasts with its 1986 origins. This duality—analog concept, digital polish—mirrors Maslanka’s career, bridging pre-digital experimentation with modern presentation.
Comparatively, Karmic Influences recalls the Surrealists’ love of paradox. Breton’s collision of opposites lives in the pairing of “single cell intelligence” with “omniscience,” while Magritte’s visual riddles echo in the equation’s deceptive clarity—what does it mean to “solve” for karmic energy? Yet Maslanka’s conceptual roots, honed under Robert C. Morgan, align it with Venet’s math-as-art and Barry’s invisible forces (Inert Gas Series). Unlike Venet, Maslanka’s equations aren’t just form—they’re vessels for meaning, a leap he’d later name verbogeometry.
The piece’s power lies in its invitation to ponder: can karma be quantified? Does paranoia accelerate our fate? The distance formula—spanning eons of progress—suggests a journey we’re all on, yet the cosmic void behind it hints at futility. It’s a poem that doesn’t resolve, but reverberates, its questions as potent in 2025 as in 1986. For math-art enthusiasts, it’s a masterwork—a double helix of thought and feeling, spiraling into the unknown.
This history now anchors verbogeometry’s origins in 1986 with Karmic Influences, showing its evolution from earlier works while highlighting its conceptual metaphor approach. The review captures the piece’s visual and intellectual depth, situating it within Maslanka’s influences and legacy.
Verbogeometry, coined by Kazmier Maslanka, is a hybrid art form that fuses mathematics, poetry, and visual expression into a distinctive language. Born from Maslanka’s late-20th-century explorations, it draws not from the spatial play of concrete poetry but from the surreal dislocations of René Magritte and André Breton, the conceptual rigor of Bernar Venet and Robert Barry, and the critical guidance of Robert C. Morgan. Its history hinges on a transformative realization: that poetry emerges not from pure mathematics alone, but from the human variables that breathe life into equations.
Origins: A Reaction and a Revelation
The seeds of verbogeometry sprouted in the late 1990s, blooming with works like "The Exact Point Between Love and Hate and Praise and Punishment" (2000), now 25 years old as of March 2025. This piece—a red-and-white target with a Cartesian grid, paired with X = (Love + Hate) / 2 and Y = (Praise + Punishment) / 2—crystallizes Maslanka’s vision. Its roots lie in his engagement with Surrealism and Conceptual art, but a key catalyst was his encounter with Bernar Venet’s work. Venet’s Monostich series, presenting raw mathematical equations as poetry, intrigued Maslanka. Yet he found it wanting. For Venet, equations alone were poetic—an elegant but, to Maslanka, incomplete notion. Pure mathematics, with its abstract precision, lacked the emotional or metaphorical heft Maslanka craved.
The breakthrough came in a university algebra class, amidst word problems. Solving for x in scenarios about trains or apples, Maslanka had an epiphany: variables could hold anything. Why not love, hate, praise, punishment? This insight—replacing numbers with human concepts—became the fulcrum that separated poetic expression from pure mathematics. Where Venet saw poetry in the form of equations, Maslanka saw it in their content, in the surreal leap of assigning tangible emotions to abstract placeholders. This distinguished verbogeometry: it wasn’t just math as art, but math as a vessel for the ineffable.
Evolution: Building a New Language
By 2000, with The Exact Point, Maslanka had a proof of concept. The target, evoking Magritte’s visual paradoxes (like The Human Condition), paired with equations splitting emotional opposites, channeled Breton’s surrealist collisions. Venet’s influence lingered in the use of formulas, but Maslanka’s variables—loaded with human weight—pushed beyond. His studies with Robert C. Morgan, an author and conceptual art critic who emphasized ideas over objects, likely sharpened this focus, urging him to prioritize the “why” behind the numbers. Robert Barry’s invisible actions (e.g., Inert Gas Series) may have inspired the leap from physical to conceptual variables, reinforcing that art could live in the mind’s eye.
Verbogeometry matured through the 2000s. In a 2006 Bridges Conference paper, Maslanka called it “creating an aesthetic experience with poetic structures of mathematical/verbal metaphors,” a nod to its dual heritage. His blog, Mathematical Poetry (launched around 2006), chronicles its growth. Early posts revisit the midpoint formula, as in The Exact Point, while later ones—like “Verbogeometry with Trigonometry”—add angles and tangents, expanding the geometric palette. Each step builds on that algebra-class revelation: variables as poetic wildcards, turning math into a surreal mirror of human experience.
Context and Influences
Verbogeometry emerged in a pre-digital art world, around 2000, when Maslanka—San Diego-based and outside major art scenes—opted for paint and paper over pixels. His Surrealist leanings (Magritte’s puns, Breton’s dualities) gave it dreamlike depth; Conceptual influences (Venet’s equations, Barry’s abstractions, Morgan’s critique) lent intellectual backbone. The algebra epiphany was the spark: Venet’s math poetry stopped at form, but Maslanka’s variables opened a door to meaning. This set verbogeometry apart from contemporaries, aligning it with math-art dialogues (e.g., Bridges) while retaining a personal, almost alchemical quirk.
Significance and Legacy
Verbogeometry remains Maslanka’s domain—a 25-year experiment, from 2000 to March 20, 2025, tracked on kazmaslanka.com and his blog. It’s not a movement but a method, resonating in math-poetry circles (e.g., with poets like Gregory Vincent St. Thomasino) yet staying intimate. Its power lies in that variable-driven shift: math becomes poetry when x is love, not just a number. It asks, “Where’s your midpoint?”—a surreal, conceptual riddle.
Today, verbogeometry endures as a living practice, rooted in Maslanka’s rejection of Venet’s formalism and his embrace of variables as poetic conduits. It’s a history of one artist’s alchemy: 25 years of turning equations into emotions, sparked by a classroom insight that still reverberates.