Inspired by cosmology, sacred geometry, and the cyclical nature of life, artist Christine Romanell creates vibrant sculptures and installations that transform abstract ideas about infinity.
At first glance, Christine Romanell’s work feels joyful.
Color radiates from every surface. Geometric forms twist, expand, and unfold into intricate structures that seem simultaneously mathematical and organic. Sculptures emerge from circles, patterns repeat endlessly, and materials shift from ceramic to wood to digitally fabricated forms. The work is visually captivating, but beneath its vibrant surfaces lies a much larger question.
How do you represent infinity?
For Romanell, that question has become a lifelong artistic pursuit.
At Spring Break Art Show NYC, the New Jersey-based artist presents a body of work rooted in sacred geometry, rotational symmetry, and the circular forms that appear throughout nature, mathematics, and the cosmos. Her sculptures and installations attempt to give physical form to ideas that are, by their very nature, impossible to fully grasp.
Infinity cannot be seen.
Infinity cannot be measured.
Yet through art, Romanell invites viewers to experience it.
“The circle is the ultimate expression of infinity,” she explained while discussing the work on view. Although human beings may never truly comprehend infinity, the circle offers a visual reminder of something without beginning or end, a form that continually returns to itself.
That fascination has led Romanell down paths that extend far beyond traditional art history. Her inspirations are as likely to come from theoretical physics and cosmology as they are from galleries or museums. Among the thinkers who have profoundly influenced her practice is renowned mathematical physicist Roger Penrose, whose theories about the cyclical nature of the universe have become central to her artistic worldview.
Penrose’s concept suggests that the universe may exist as an endless sequence of cycles, where one cosmic epoch gives rise to another. Rather than a single beginning and end, existence becomes a continuous process of transformation and renewal.
For Romanell, the theory resonates on both a scientific and deeply personal level.
Life itself unfolds in cycles.
Growth and decline.
Creation and destruction.
Beginnings and endings.
The idea became especially meaningful following the loss of her mother last year. During a period marked by grief and reflection, the cyclical nature of existence offered a sense of comfort. The notion that energy, matter, and life continually transform rather than simply disappear became woven into her understanding of both art and existence.
That emotional dimension gives the work its power.
While the sculptures are rooted in geometry and mathematics, they never feel cold or purely analytical. Instead, they become meditations on memory, change, resilience, and continuity.
Each piece begins digitally.
Unlike many artists who sketch physical objects and later translate them into digital form, Romanell works in reverse. She creates intricate drawings on the computer, developing structures that often feel more at home in a virtual environment than the physical world.
The challenge then becomes figuring out how to bring those forms into reality.
Sometimes a drawing becomes a ceramic sculpture.
Sometimes it evolves into a wooden structure.
Sometimes it is realized through 3D printing or industrial fabrication techniques.
The process resembles translation more than construction.
She is not recreating something that already exists. She is building a bridge between imagination and reality.
“A lot of people are trying to get their art to look like the world,” she explained. “I’m trying to create a portal.”
That desire to create portals rather than representations gives the work a distinctly futuristic quality. The sculptures feel less like objects and more like artifacts from another dimension, visualizations of systems and patterns operating just beyond ordinary perception.
Yet despite the ambitious concepts behind the work, Romanell’s daily practice remains grounded in community.
She maintains her studio at Manufacturers Village in East Orange, New Jersey, a historic complex originally built in the 1880s as a Johnson & Johnson manufacturing facility. Today, the sprawling campus houses dozens of artists working across disciplines.
For Romanell, that environment has become essential.
Every day, artists gather for lunch. Conversations drift between art, politics, materials, techniques, and life. Ideas are exchanged. Problems are solved. Encouragement is offered.
The atmosphere resembles an ongoing collaborative education.
If someone needs help understanding ceramics, there is a ceramicist down the hall.
If someone wants to learn about metal fabrication, another artist is ready to share their knowledge.
Romanell credits much of her growth to this network of creative peers.
“I wouldn’t be where I am right now if it wasn’t for my fellow artists,” she said.
That sense of community feels increasingly significant within a contemporary art world often associated with individual achievement and competition. At Manufacturers Village, success appears to be collective.
Artists help one another grow.
Knowledge circulates.
Practices evolve together.
The influence of those relationships can be felt throughout Romanell’s work. While her sculptures explore universal concepts such as infinity and cosmology, they are also deeply human. They acknowledge the importance of connection, mentorship, and shared experience.
Standing inside her Spring Break Art Show booth, surrounded by geometric structures that seem to expand endlessly outward, it becomes clear that the work is ultimately about more than mathematics or physics.
It is about perspective.
About recognizing that individual lives exist within larger cycles.
About understanding that endings often become beginnings.
And about finding beauty in the patterns that connect everything.
Through color, geometry, and an unwavering fascination with infinity, Christine Romanell creates work that encourages viewers to look beyond the immediate moment and consider something much larger.
Not just the universe.
But their place within it.
About Tarik Talk Podcast
Tarik Talk Podcast is an international arts and culture podcast hosted by artist Tarik Mendes. With more than 200 episodes across 50 seasons filmed in over 10 countries, the podcast features conversations with artists, curators, museum professionals, collectors, cultural leaders, and creative innovators from around the world.
Recorded inside artist studios, museums, galleries, art fairs, and cultural institutions, Tarik Talk explores the personal stories, creative processes, challenges, inspirations, and career journeys that shape today’s contemporary art landscape.
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