Unit 2 | Math + Art

No matter how much we view art and science as water and oil, the two are inherently intertwined. From shapes to computers, humans have been using math in many forms to express themselves. Many of these derive, and carry on from the basic foundation of Renaissance Art, stressing the importance of perspective, vanishing point, and the golden ratio. Professor Vesna expresses in her video lecture that the combination of these three makes the appeal to the art strong. 

The “Universal Man'' of the Renaissance, or Leonardo da Vinci, was given a chance to bring together all previous recorded knowledge that could be put into art and bring the Renaissance to its height. Prior to da Vinci’s birth, theorists and artists like Fibonacci, Piero de la Francesca, Brunelleschi, and Alhazen were all collectively contributing to the science of creating appealing art. These ideas came to be what I called the basic foundations of the Renaissance, perspective, vanishing point, and the golden ratio. 

In da Vinci’s most famous work, Mona Lisa, one can see the culmination of all these aspects that were once separately described. The Fibonacci sequence can be applied to show how the “golden ratio” was achieved; the face is the most illuminated part of the painting, contrasted with a dark backdrop; and how the backdrop utilizes vanishing point and perspective by placing it further in the back of the canvas and seeming as it slowly fades away. At first glance, art may just look like a painting, but beneath it, reveals complex mathematical relationships that make the painting extremely visually appealing. 

Now in a time where life is surrounded by technology, art and science are being mixed in ways that are rather straightforward and less interpretive than that of the Renaissance pieces. Artists like Nathan Selikoff and Charles Csuri are using computers as their medium of expression. In the case of Selikoff, he is known by mapping lasers in a particular order to express himself. The lasers accompanied with sound gives the art more depth and allows the observer to “feel” the art as the lasers move. Csuri uses computers to give him a sense of control and more options over his piece. He says “When I set mathematical values, my mind is sensing choices as patterns of color and light. I see the relationships between objects as transformations involving position, rotation and scale.” (Csuri, CsuriVision Blog)

Vesna, V. “Math Intro.” YouTube, 26 Mar. 2012, youtu.be/eHiL9iskUWM. 

Vesna. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” YouTube, 9 Apr. 2012, youtu.be/mMmq5B1LKDg. 

Frantz, Marc. Vanishing Points and Looking at Art, 2000, www.cs.ucf.edu/courses/cap6938-02/refs/VanishingPoints.pdf. 

Selikoff. “Fine Artist Playing with Interactivity, Math, Code.” Nathan Selikoff, 18 Jan. 2020, nathanselikoff.com/. 

Csuri. CsuriVision, 2012, www.csurivision.com/.