Week 2: Math + Art

Math is the universal language for describing nature. Since art draws the majority of its inspiration from nature, it is not surprising that the fields of art and math are intertwined.

Fractals in Romanesco Broccoli

Fractals are a prime example of how art and math are intertwined. They are complex and often beautiful geometric patterns that repeat at different scales. They occur commonly in nature. Fractal patterns can be easily represented by mathematical equations and generated by modern day computers. 

St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha

Artists started out using intuition to understand perspective. As artists had more experience, they developed more rigorous and math-intensive methods of explaining perspective. Scientists have used the work by artists to study optics.

Scientists and artists alike were fascinated by the idea of the fourth dimension. Henderson's "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion" demonstrated that when artists and scientists work together to explore topics, they gain different views of those topics that expose new ways of thinking. Artists used the idea of the fourth spatial dimension as creative freedom to make more abstract art. Additionally in the 1970s, a group of artists and mathematicians worked together to visualize the spatial fourth dimension. 

Hypercube 3D Computer Animation

 Through the use of mathematical modeling and modern day technology, we are able to simulate four dimensional objects and visualize their projections into three dimensional space as shown by the three dimensional hypercube animation above.

In Abbot's "Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions," flatlanders cannot perceive objects of higher dimensions. Science has done an amazing job at making sense of physically observable phenomena, but it will need the help of art's creativity and imagination to make sense of that which cannot be directly observed.

Works Cited

Abbott, Edwin. “Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions.” N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Oct. 2012. <https://cole.uconline.edu/content>.

Da Panicale, Masolino. St. Peter Healing a Cripple and the Raising of Tabitha. Digital image. Science and Art of Perspective. Web.

Henderson, Linda D. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. Print.

"Hypercube 3D Computer Animation." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 Apr. 2015.
<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXYXuHVTS_k>

Romanesco Broccoli. Digital image. Culturally Situated Design Tools Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Web.