One Hundred Permutations

About the Book

One Hundred Permutations is a book about potentiality in art. The author first presents several essays which both enumerate and suggest solutions to some problems facing art practice today. After using these writings to initiate a working premise, he then exhibits the book's namesake works: a series of one hundred abstractions all developed from the same source image. What comes next is unique within the arena of books on art. He suggests that any and all interested readers- who he assumes to be artists or art lovers- collaborate with him to complete new "permutations" based on those seen in the book. It is an epic project that lets practically anyone into the artistic process.

About the Author

Matthew Ballou was born in rural upstate New York. He began his study of art at the Munson Williams Procor Arts Institute (an extension campus of Pratt Institute) in Utica, NY before transferring to The School of the Art Institute of Chicago to complete his bachelor's degree. An emerging artist in the midwest, Ballou has actively shown his work in a variety of venues in the Chicago area. In the fall of 2003 he will begin MFA studies at Indiana University. Matthew and his wife Alison live in Evanston, Illinois.