Week 2 - Math + Art

Prior to these lectures, I never thought art was so closely tied to mathematics and science. In the lecture, Professor Vesna described how Duccio was the first western painter to draw a depth painting, stating that trigonometry is needed to scale an object accurately onto a picture. Her statement was astonishing because when I learned trigs I never connected the fact that I was implicitly using trigs when sketching what I saw in the world. When drawing, it never occurred to me that I was using depth perception and the vanishing point in order to create a realistic scenery.

Duccio's artwork, utilizing vanishing point

Henderson’s Fourth Dimension was intriguing as well, bringing up the concept of a 4th dimension in art. Henderson described 4D art as a departure from visual reality, an ‘objectless style’ (205). Through her explanation, I understood 4D art to be having no structure, basically a free-for-all artstyle which would be reflective of the difficulty of understanding what a 4D is. However, I still wanted a more concrete understanding of this art style so I searched up 4D art. During my search I came across a 4D game: Miegakure.

Even with these video explanation, trying to explain the 4D world, it was still difficult for me to fully grasp the concept of 4D. It was then when I really could understand what the triangle in Flatland said on page 2, how it had a difficult time understanding the concept of 3D. I felt like the triangle, not fully grasping what 4D looks like, because the only thing I could see was 3D. Although learning of Miegakure’s art did not give much insight to 4D art, it still reinforced my learnings of 2D and 3D art forms. The diagrams depicting the composition of the 4D images and 3D image showed me how most of the 3D images produced digitally require knowledge of mathematics as they are composed of basic mathematical shapes. Once the basic form of the artwork is finished, depth perception and shadowing also comes into play to make the 3D images seem more realistic.

Despite Henderson’s statement that 4D art allow for a more abstract art, I believe incorporating mathematics, science and art together gives the art piece a cleaner look. Mathematics and science complements art very well as the mathematical rules gives art a more refined, precise look while scientific knowledge of optics allows for realism in art.

- Abbott, Edwin A. Flatland: a romance of many dimensions. N.p.: n.p., 1884. Print. 

- Duccio Painting. Digital image. Medieval Fresco and Panel Painting. Cbcurtis, n.d. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

- Henderson, Linda Dalrymple. "The Fourth Dimension and Non-Euclidean Geometry in Modern Art: Conclusion." Leonardo 17.3 (1984): 205-10. Web. 17 Apr. 2017. 

- MiegakureGame. "Designing a 4D World: The Technology behind Miegakure [Hide&Reveal]." YouTube. N.p., 08 Mar. 2016. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.

- MiegakureGame. "How to walk through walls using the 4th Dimension [Miegakure: a 4D game]." YouTube. N.p., 27 Aug. 2014. Web. 18 Apr. 2017. 

- UConlineprogram. "Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov." YouTube. N.p., 09 Apr. 2012. Web. 18 Apr. 2017.