Week 2: Art + Math
Exploring the relationship between art and math this week, I realized how art contributes to our understanding of dimensions and geometry. In the reading “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion,” Henderson examined the advancement of the fourth dimension by Surrealist artists who departed from visual reality and incorporated elements of space-time in their works. In this reading, I found that the advancements of arts and math are inseparable. For instance, Einstein’s theory of relativity inspired artists like Rice Pereira and Oscar Dominguez to illustrate the spatial complexity with paintings and sculpture (Henderson 1984).
Similarly, in the article “The Mathematical Art of M.C Escher,” Maurits Cornelis Escher drew great inspiration from mathematical ideas. His painting, Relativity, illustrated the idea of exploring the world of higher dimensions in the twentieth century and embodied the influence of Einstein’s theory of relativity which motivated artists to “invent new aesthetic and conceptual capabilities (Henderson 1984).”
 |
M.C. Escher's "Relativity"https://moa.byu.edu/m-c-eschers-relativity
|
On the other hand, as mentioned in the lecture, arts is also being used to teach and a source of inspiration in the scientific world. In the mathematical fiction, Flatland, Abbott helps us to think about the meaning of "dimension" through the experience of the main character, a square, who interacted with a sphere and exceeded his understanding of own universe, Flatland. In the reading of “Pollock's Fractals,” Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings inspired Physicist Richard Taylor, who after analyzed its fractal dimension in the paintings for years, to invent a device he calls the Pollockizer, which creating both fractal and no- fractal patterns.
Jackson Pollock: Drip Painting, 1951. Woodshed Art Auctions.
Through this week’s learning, I realized that the juxtaposition of mathematics, art, and science is critical for their development and has contributed to countless creative works and scientific breakthrough. For instance, the geometry of vision or geometry of perspective, especially the golden ratio was used by Leonardo da Vinci in his work of Mona Lisa. Artists’ exploration of the fourth dimension resulted in the technological advance of four-dimensional images with a high level of intricacy and accuracy on the display screen of a computer.
Sources:
ABBOTT, EDWIN ABBOTT. FLATLAND. BLURB, 2019.
Domínguez, Oscar. “Oscar Domínguez. Nostalgia of Space. 1939 | MoMA.” The Museum of Modern Art, www.moma.org/collection/works/79045.
Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion.” Leonardo, vol. 17, no. 3, 1984, pp. 205–210. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1575193.
“Jackson Pollock: Drip Discovery.” Woodshed Art Auctions, 23 Nov. 2017, www.woodshedartauctions.com/jackson-pollock-drip-discovery/.
Ouellette, Jennifer. “Pollock's Fractals.” Discover Magazine, 1 Nov. 2001, discovermagazine.com/2001/nov/featpollock.
The Mathematical Art of M.C. Escher, platonicrealms.com/minitexts/Mathematical-Art-Of-M-C-Escher/.
Vesna, Victoria. “Math + Art.” Lecture 2.
No comments:
Post a Comment