Week 2: Math+(=)Art

Compare golden ratio (above) to
Selikoff's artwork (below)

Both of my parents are graphic designers and growing up I was often told how inadequate they were in the fields science and mathematics, which I believed until this week’s lecture. After reading Abbott’s novel, Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions, I see that my parents are secret mathematicians. As graphic designers, my parents job is to take a concept and make it visual. Often minds my mom zones into a specific part of a company’s identity, say a neuron for a neuroscientist organization, and looks at it from all different perspectives. While she does this, she uses math to interpret an item from different dimensions and perspectives.

I also learned that different looks surprisingly use different mathematical concepts, which I thought was really interesting and something I have never thought about before.

In Vesna’s lecture, Math+Art, she talks about seemingly very mathematical concepts such as geometry, the golden ratio, optics, and symmetry, that are the building blocks to making art such as patterns. When my parents design merchandise for their clients, they have to use these mathematical concepts to create pleasing patterns or identities if their client want a more realistic logo. If the client wants more abstract and conceptual design, as discussed my Henderson, my parents use inspiration from abstracts works of art which were influenced by mathematical theories such as Einstein’s theory of relativity.

My parent's logos for neuroscience client
https://www.chingfoster.com/

After this week’s lesson, I not only learned that art is basically math, I also learned that my parents are part time mathematicians. I asked my mom if she thinks her job involved a lot of math and she said, “yes of course because we have to blow logos up and figure out size and scale if we want to print larger items.” What she doesn’t know is that math used for reproduction purposes is just merely scratching the surface of the amount of math used in art, and I bet she’ll be excited when I tell her she actually is good at math.

Sources:

Henderson, Linda. “The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion.” MIT Press. 17.3 (1984): 205-10. Print.

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

Vesna, Victoria. “Math + Art.” Lecture 2.

Selikoff, Nathan. “Suspension 6 & 7” N.p., n.d. Web. 2014. <https://nathanselikoff.com/works/suspensions-6-7>

Mize, Diane. “A Guide to the Golden Ratio (AKA Golden Section or Golden Mean) for Artists.” A Guide to the Golden Ratio (AKA Golden Section or Golden Mean) for Artists. N.p., n.d. Web. 11 Oct. 2012. <http://emptyeasel.com/2009/01/20/a-guide-to-the-golden-ratio-aka-golden-section-or-golden-mean-for-artists/>.