ART
AND MATHEMATICS
Professor
Vesna explored in lecture this week the relationship between art and
mathematics. I learned that Piero della
Francesca, a medieval mathematician and painter, studied how math plays a role
in art, in particular the geometry of vision.
There are many factors which contribute to how we see an object,
including distance, boundaries, and intersection. Francesca also proposed that painting involves
three principle elements - drawing, proportion, and coloring.
The
Resurrection [detail] by Piero della Francesca
C1460?
Museo Civico Sansepolocro
Professor Vesna next discussed the
Golden Ratio in relation to art and architecture. When artists use the Golden Ratio in
designing their works, it imposes proportionality [1 to 1.618] which makes the
production appear more aesthetically pleasing.
Studies show the presence of the Golden Ratio in the design of the
Parthenon. You can see Golden Rectangles,
which are an application of the Golden Ratio, in the spaces between the
columns. Also, the Parthenon’s floor
plan [?] is a Golden Rectangle. Modern
designers and artists use the Golden Ratio in their works. One example is the Apple logo.
The Golden Ratio in the Apple Logo
The Golden Ratio in the Parthenon
Nathan Selikoff’s video about his art caught
my attention. He is an artist and
computer programmer who provides a microphone for people to speak into or to make
noises. Selikoff developed a computer program
which interprets sounds which are projected onto a wall. You can “see” the sound being heard by the
microphone. It involves a fascinating combination
of art and technology. Selikoff took the
uniqueness of sound and created a way to visualize audio patterns. As the result, we get visual art where no art
existed before.
The mingling of art, science and math
present an interesting and unexpected expansion of my understanding concerning how
things work. I know the physical world
can be described with mathematics. Water
boils and freezes at specific temperatures [numbers], for instance. I had an “ahah” moment when I witnessed math
applied to paintings and architecture for aesthetic analysis. The idea that beauty can be described with
math is not intuitive for me. Aesthetics
is subjective. Beauty is in the eye of
the beholder, right? So, how can we use
math, an objective tool of science, in a subjective context to identify beauty?
Sources:
Vesna,
Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2016.
Web. 11 Oct. 2012. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMmq5B1LKDg&feature=player_emb edded
Selikoff,
Nathan. Processing Orlando Art + Tech
Showcase – Nathan Selifoff, Audio Imprint
Clock. Youtube, 9 April 2016. Web. 23 December 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jGn3exUtAs
Stratford,
Clive. Piero della Francesca: A Byzantine
Gaze. 9 April 2016. Web. 17 March
2015. http://www.clivestratford.com/category/byzantine-art/
Brownlee, John. The Golden Ratio: Design’s Biggest Myth. 9 April 2016. Web. 13
April 2015. http://www.fastcodesign.com/3044877/the-golden-ratio-designs- biggest-myth
Selikoff, Nathan. Fine artist playing at the intersection of interactivity, math, and
code. 9 April 2016. Web. http://nathanselikoff.com/
No comments:
Post a Comment