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Week 2


The link between math and art is much more prevalent than one may think. The first connection that many people can make is with shapes and paintings, because the more exact you can make angles and shapes, the more accurate your work of art can be. An artist who clearly exhibits this type of work is Ilya Bolotowsky, who specializes in cubism and geometric abstraction. To the right is one of his works. 





Another, more conceptual way is seen in any house or building you look at. Any structure no matter how simple or complex uses an enormous amount of math to ensure that all the proportions and measurements are correct. This is needed for the simplest shed and for architectures more like a work of art such as the Sydney Opera House seen below.

The most abstract way that I have thought about the hybrid of numbers and art is with the approach of how numbers are incorporated in art as entertainment. This can be seen on adult shows such as Numbers, as mentioned in the lecture video, but it can also be seen in children’s shows such as the Count in Sesame Street. He bridges the musical part of art with the counting part of math. This is an example of how kids handle math and art before we separate them in school or through other games and activities.














Abbott, Edwin Abbott. Flatland. Penguin, 1998.
Hahn, Alexandra J. “Mathematical Excursions To Architecture.” Inside Science, 5 Aug. 2016, www.insidescience.org/news/mathematical-excursions-architecture.
Knight, Richard. “Why Was 34,969 Count Von Count's Magic Number?” BBC News, BBC, 31 Aug. 2012, www.bbc.com/news/magazine-19409960.
Raynor, Vivien. “ART: ILYA BOLOTOWSKY.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 4 Feb. 1983, www.nytimes.com/1983/02/04/arts/art-ilya-bolotowsky.html.
Wakin, Daniel J. “Ilya Bolotowsky (1907 – 1981).” Farhat Cultural Center, 8 Sept. 2015, farhatculturalcenter.wordpress.com/2015/09/08/ilya-bolotowsky-1907-1981/.
Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics.” Lecture. CoLE DESMA 9. Web, https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=mMmq5B1LKDg.

Comments

  1. UnknownApril 15, 2018 at 10:06 AM

    I liked how you brought in the perspective of the intersection of math and entertainment, specifically in children's shows such as Sesame Street. This proves that at a young age we are taught to value these disciplines equally and that they are somewhat interconnected. However as we progress towards schooling and traditional education art and math are portrayed as polar ends of the spectrum and are rarely intertwined.

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