Safety in Numbers: Colin McCahon’s Dark Equations

Safety in Numbers: Colin McCahon’s Dark Equations draws from Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki’s extensive holdings to explore a selection of the artist’s mysterious number paintings made between 1975 and 1976. Numbers first surfaced in McCahon’s work in the late 1950s and would become the primary subject of his art by the mid-1970s in the Teaching aids, Clouds, Noughts and crosses, and Rocks in the sky series. Within these works, Arabic and Roman numerals hover in darkness, appear at once tabulated and like geological strata, or recall complex mathematical equations on a school blackboard. The number paintings also refer to The Stations of the Cross, and communicate themes of life and death, as well as redemption and salvation. 

Safety in Numbers presents a puzzling yet visually unified chapter of the artist’s practice. While the stark block printing may appear straightforward, the works provide a profound reflection on art’s ability to communicate existential concerns, drawing viewers into a dialogue with McCahon’s coded symbolism. Beyond this, the exhibition also prompts a questioning of art’s role as a space for teaching and learning, and the challenges that come with interpretation. 

Image credit: Colin McCahon, Clouds 4, 1975, synthetic polymer paint on paper on plywood, Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki, on loan from a private collection.