Week 2: Math and Art

Math and art sound like two different cultures without intersection since math is mostly about solving problem and art is mostly about ways of expression and communication. However, they do have connections and the connections are exactly their "distinguished" characteristics. In the novel Flatland, the author,  Edwin A. Abbott, describes several worlds of different dimensions. It is the magic of mathematical graphs like triangle, square and circle inspires Edwin to criticize the society by using math graphs. It is a really bold and amazing combination of art and math; in some way, literature is also a kind of art. Applying math graphs into art work makes the work more intuitive and visual for readers to understand. 

Gateway Arch in St. Louis

The appliance of math not just exists in literature, but everywhere around us, architecture for example. The tallest man-made monument in the U.S., Gateway Arch, is designed and built according to the shape of parabola. The idea of combination of art and math always gives people inspiration to make some surprising things. The reason why Gateway Arch is so famous and popular in the world is that it maps a parabola line on paper to a huge architecture in the real world! In addition, the charm of math is also applied in the performance. In order to create different environment of scenarios, artists use various combinations of lines, triangles, squares and so on. These graphs combined give audience certain feelings with the music and lights in the auditorium.

                                                        Four Dimensions For Orchestra

                                                        

Furthermore, people often apply math into art automatically and unconsciously. In some way, people have the same standard to tell beauty and ugly. However, even artists did not know the rules behind the standard of beauty until they found the golden ratio. The golden ratio are widely used in the art and science; the ratio gives people a feeling of perfectness and comfortableness. From Nefertiti to Angelina Jolie, they are acknowledged as beautiful females in the world and both share a similar facial proportions in golden ratio. This provides a new orientation for scientist and artists to embed math knowledge in their works. Juxtaposition for math and art means that both are same important for artists and scientists to develop their work. Art and math always show as a highly combined group that makes them the distinguishable features and depth.

References:

"Four Dimensions for Orchestra, EWI and Electronics (new mix)." YouTube. N.p., n.d. Web.   8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_d8pMxm8Ns#t=367>

"Flatland, by E. A. Abbott, 1884." ibiblio - The Public's Library and Digital Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013. <http://www.ibiblio.org/eldritch/eaa/FL.HTM>

"Gateway Arch." Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc, n.d. Web. 8 Oct. 2013.  <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gateway_Arch>

"Four Dimensions - Real-time Audio-visual Performance." Nathan Selikoff. N.p., n.d. Web. 

8 Oct. 2013. <http://nathanselikoff.com/works/four-dimensions>

"A Model's Secrets: The Perfect Face - Golden Ratio Beauty Calculator." A Model's Secrets. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Oct. 2013. <http://facethis.blogspot.com/2012/01/perfect-face-golden-ratio-beauty.html>