Maths and Art

I have been interested in maths for a long time and interested in its use in art. For my dissertation I wrote about maths in contemporary art, but particularly the difficulties in producing this kind of work.

Maths is an ideal subject which means it cannot be translated into our reality at all without aquiring imperfections. My practical work has demonstrated this - although Plato's Toys, displayed at the January exhibition, look very finished they are far from mathematically accurate.

I supplied gloves at the exhibition so viewers could pick up the objects and experience them more directly. I hope that this will enable a more intuitive understanding of geometry as opposed to the very dull and standardised way it is taught in the maths world. Also by allowing them to be touched deconstructs the elitist purity of sculpture and painting them in bright colours detracts from the seriousness of ancient mathematics.

This work takes a very long time to make so I may have to display this work (Plato's Toys) again for Minto. However, I hope to have a new piece which will be a dodecahedron painted with a simple perspective scheme on each of its twelve faces. The viewer can pick it up and view each side. Again it allows direct contact with maths, but also hints at the idea of multiple dimensions. Each face represents a separate reality which all exist in the same space of the dodecahedron, but they cannot be viewed or experienced simultaneously. The dodecahedron was also named by Plato as the symbol of the universe which is quite fitting with the idea of different dimensions.

Pictures to follow.