Medicine + Technology + Art

Alexandre Cabanel, Birth of Venus, 1863

 

     I am surprised why I did not realize that the connection between art and science earlier before studying this week’s course materials. So many examples of content or style can prove that art and medical science are interrelated throughout the history of art.

     First, artists under Academicism had to know well about the medical anatomy before making great artworks. As nudes are the popular subject matters of academic paintings, artists had to master the proportion of human body in order to paint accurately and mimetically. With the knowledge of medical anatomy, academic artists are able to show the eternal beauty of human bodies.

Egon Schiele, Self Portrait Grimacing, 1910

     Second, some artists use medical knowledge as the source of their artworks. For example, Egon Schiele, an Expressionist, used the photos of patients in medical journals as the reference to his self-portraits. He was inspired by the malformed body shapes and then painted his self-portraits with distorted body shapes and proportions.

     Third, artistic principles are also used in medical areas. For example, plastic surgery is based on artistic essence to improve the appearance of people. With plastic surgery on their butts, females can make them look sexier. Additionally, I personally think that some celebrities such as Kim Kardashian became famous with the help of plastic surgeries.

    

     Art and medical science are closely related. Sometimes, medical science helps artists create better artworks and sometimes medical areas such as body modification are based on the artistic essence.

Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Egon_Schiele#/media/File:Egon_Schiele_-_Grimassierendes_Aktselbstbildnis_-_1910.jpeg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Academic_art#/media/File:Alexandre_Cabanel_-_The_Birth_of_Venus_-_Google_Art_Project_2.jpg

Robotis and Art

During this week,we looked at how science and art intertwine with the use of robotics. It can technically go way back to when the Chinese invented the printing press. (Vesna) Artist started to use robotics very early on, in manufacturing and with industrialization. For example, the Russian artistic movement Constructivism once encouraged artists to make artworks as industrial products. In history, the development of art seemed to be based on the advancement of scientific technology and industrialization in order to achieve mass production. However, I wonder if human have lost something during this rapid development and advancement. According to Walter Benjamin, mechanization and streamlining production processes comes at the cost of art losing uniqueness and authenticity.

It is true that some famous artists made artworks with new technology with the risk of losing uniqueness and originality. For example, after the development of photography and journalism, Andy Warhol made his artworks by reproducing photos of celebrities from journals or the packaging of mass-produced products such as cans. He even encouraged people to act like machines and robots. He admitted in the interview that his works were not original and he did so because the replication was easier than the creation of something new in this advanced world. The development of scientific technology may simplify hard work and comfort human life, but may leave less space human creativity due to the influence of “mass culture.”

Additionally, the success of AlphaGo, a computer program developed by Google DeepMind, made me worry about the future of human art. AlphaGo can improve its skills of playing the board game Go by matching with human players. In March 2016, it successfully beat Lee Sedol, a top human player, in a five-game match. I wonder if artificial technology could replace human artists one day.

Sources:

Benjamin, Walter, and J. A. Underwood. The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction. London: Penguin, 2008. Print.

https://www.google.com/search?q=alphago&espv=2&biw=1280&bih=923&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjnkcOvwpfMAhVMymMKHW5mAF4QsAQIHg&dpr=1#imgrc=LjmP7DaTqhM8VM%3A

https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&tbs=rimg%3ACUDM018kAcs9Ijh-Pzwz6LO_1zXgDkoeHfW-OUuBWukfbbB11Nt5a4TgDdBsrRTRbiUqQeuqI0onlQnj6AUlfLpYaFioSCX4_1PDPos7_1NEWvWl7AVlZMUKhIJeAOSh4d9b44R6qFXj1oaf6AqEglS4Fa6R9tsHRFjvCWyGVZIXCoSCXU23lrhOAN0EWt1TCHtd-tQKhIJGytFNFuJSpARA0hhWobtwC4qEgl66ojSieVCeBHdSXtWiwKteSoSCfoBSV8ulhoWEaQNgRIdKfy4&q=Robotics%20%20%20Art%20desma&ved=0ahUKEwio_d7DypfMAhVD62MKHY_fCHQQ9C8ICQ&dpr=1&biw=1280&bih=923#imgrc=LfUHhZZg3gtjGM%3A

Week 2: Math and Art

During the lecture of this week, we discussed how art and math come together for people to create new concepts and ideas. I know that art involves an element of mathematics in it. Artists need to use these mathematical geometry to create the art that create stunning and moving impacts. In my opinion, math and art both play important roles in the works of art.

Mathematical Geometry

+Artistic Design

=Great Artworks

We also learned more about the golden ratio this week. This is another excellent point that reflects on how math and art complement each other. There are many examples of the patterns in nature and structures in architecture around the world that apply golden ratio, such as the Parthenon, the Egyptian Pyramids and countless paintings.

Additionally, artists combined geometric shapes such as triangle when creating their artworks because these simple geometric shapes can give us a strong visual impact and show us the wonderful mathematical beauty. Artists show us that math and art are not two separated areas and some elements of math can actually become a part of artistic composition. Math and art are interconnected.

 

From the lecture, the readings and the examples above, I realized that the existence of math in art and the appearance of art in math are not coincidences, but an inevitable result. On one hand, for art to achieve perfection and influence maximization, it has to be based on nature, and therefore has to be based on knowledge of math. On the other hand, the geometry of math is shown beautiful in artworks, and therefore thanks to art, math is more interesting and fascinating. Art and math complements each other and then creates a glorious civilization for us. sources


sources:

Vesna, Victoria. “Mathematics-pt1-ZeroPerspectiveGoldenMean.mov.” Cole UC online. Youtube, 9 April 2012. Web. 7 Apr. 2016.

http://images.wisegeek.com/pyramids-egypt.jpg

http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-large-5/transmission-jazzberry-blue.jpg

Week 1: "Two Cultures"

The readings for this week, Snow's "The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution" reflected the idea of two cultures in 1959 as separated by literary intellectuals and natural science. The arrangement of UCLA campus can be an example where North and South campus represent separately the Arts and Sciences majors.

I am art and architecture major student, the difference of art and science for me is that engineer will decide whether they can use my design.

I am also willing to discussing how this two parts perfectly complement each other.

I was born in China, I moved to the United States when I sixteen years old. I have been exposed to the Chinese culture and American culture as well. I think they have a part of me.

I used to do translation work. I think it is both a science and an art. Said it is science, because translation is rigorous, meticulous, has the very strict standards, such as some technical terms and idioms, unit of measure or part of the social language has built up a specific mode of translation. Translation is art, because in many occasions require translators to choose, cannot hidebound, otherwise can only response surface, reach deeper meaning.

sources

http://sciencepolicy.colorado.edu/students/envs_5110/snow_1959.pdf