Why art is a science
I’ve touched on this idea before, but I’d like to go a bit deeper into why I think that the common distinction that is made between art and science is actually not as rigid as we’re led to believe.
It’s generally held that a person is either ‘arty’ or a scientific type. Often this label is applied during school days, and can affect which subjects you choose to study, as well as making up part of your self-identity.
This strikes me as a little strange, because there are all sorts of aspects of art where a knowledge of science is useful. For example, knowing how certain paints will behave when mixed with other paints - that’s pure chemistry. The fact that oil paints are diluted with a solvent, while watercolours obviously react better with water - chemistry again. That soft paper breaks down when overloaded with water can be understood at a microscopic level, and so on. There is a lot to art that is plain science, and no matter how much inspiration or imagination you bring to your artwork, if you don’t pick up some of the basics, you’ll have a very frustrating time trying to turn your ideas into pictures.
I’d also suggest that the common idea that art is all down to chance and talent is, frankly, bunkum. Like anything, the more you practice, the better you get. That is because you are learning, possibly at a subliminal level, which angles and dissecting lines best represent what you are trying to draw. Angles and dissecting lines? Maths!
Science is responsible for the paints and tools we use, too. Plastic-based paints such as acrylics would not be possible without the plastic industry; my frequent use of the computer to colour my pictures is another obvious example of technology aiding the cause of the artists.
I’m not denying that you need some secret ingredients to raise your artwork above the commonplace - the ingredients generally referred to as inspiration or talent, for example. But I am certain that this is not just some nebulous quality, bestowed on a few lucky ones. Rather, it’s something that happens when a person opens their eyes to the world around them and starts to think about how best to represent the way that they see things. All tasks, artistic or scientific, require stringent working methods. Perhaps it’s just because art is such a wide field, with so many differing techniques and few rules, that it is seen otherwise.
Posted: August 22nd, 2007 under Technique.
Comments: 12
12 Comments
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I’ve had many great great conversations about the crossover between art and science with some sciencey friends who totally agree that science and art really are not all that disimiliar.
Scientists have to be incredibly creative - they have to make the correlation between one thing and another - it takes a lot of imagination to leap from what we are aware of as facts to making - for instance - wireless electricity - which has recently been proven possible despite the fact that in doing so you have to defy a few scientific laws. ( I can’t remember where I read that this was possible , you’re just going to have to go with me on this.) It’s why the persona of the mad scientist exists - because the majority of scientists spend their time coming up with ridiculous scenarios to explain things we don’t understand. The humble bumble bee - defies the laws we know about flying it shouldn’t be able to but it does, we don’t know why but one day we might. It’s a scientists job to fill in the gaps that we don’t know about the world and it takes a highly creative brain to concieve of these ideas. It’s this conception that links the scientist.
Another example that pops to mind is complimentary colours - the science of what colours look good together. I really believe having a good knowledge of colour can make a mediocre artist’s work amazing and an amazing artists work almost godlike. Good colour is like a banoffee pie for the eyes.
If you’ve not already come across a “colour scheme generator” online I suggest you try putting that into a search on google. I find them an invaluable tool for when I’m working with a colour I really love and just can’t work out what colour will go with it to make it look the best it can. It can have some really pleasing results and is all a very scientific approach to art!
b
hmm, oh for an edit button! please forgive my streamofconciousness post for its very bad grammar!
No no, go with the flow! I am glad to have such an energetic comment and for once I will excuse any grammatical errors in the name of enthusiasm.
Science and Art definitely are really similar. I was if you can believe it a real science geek when I was young. My dad is a chemist though, so obviously a love for science rubbed off a little. I owe a lot of my creative thinking to my dad and my interest in science. The science of color is a big thing too, learned that at an early age making candy and using dyes to get it a certain color so it looks more edible!
Science and art, yin and yang?
While I personally hated all forms of science and flunked them at school. But just occasionally I hear a radio programme or read an article about art inspired by science, or science inspired by art, and I can see a whole new and exciting correlation.
There is so much art in science. I am a big fan of fibonacci and prime numbers. You need to be a creative thinker to solve problems and thats also true for art. I see pictures as little problems that need solving. I use my art to explain complex ideas to my daughter - how do you show how long 190 million years is to a six year old? With a picture.
Wow! Fantastic. I’d love to see that picture.
I’ve remembered another point about art and science that I forgot about!
A while back I gatecrashed a lecture at the real uni in Leeds with a chap called Kevin Warrick who is a scientist and also part robot (he’s inserted various recognition chips under his skin which do things like open his office doors, activate robotic hands etc etc..) He talked about the art-science crossover and the frustration he felt as a scientist to have so many ideas in his head that he was forever trying to convey to his students and constantly struggling to express them in the same intricate way he could imagine them in his mind. He said he felt that the language of speech was only so good and would fail him, often leaving him to wish he could connect his brain directly to another person’s. He aquated this with an artist trying to express their inner most thoughts and then went on to discuss about his work with, I think it was the RCA…
With the jewelery students of the RCA, Kevin Warrick conceived of a beautiful necklace with colour changing lights for Warrick’s wife. The necklace was hooked up wirelessly to the internet and in turn to Warrick’s internally placed microchips, which at the time were programmed to monitor small changes in his body suggestive of various emotions. The colour of Warrick’s wife’s necklace would change depending on Warrick’s mood which he described as rudimentary steps towards expressing himself through art and science.
Mad!
I have so much to say in reply to this that I can’t even begin. Mind you, I’m about to go out to the pub, so I haven’t got time to think my reply through. Just, oh, wow, really, would be the general gist.
Here you go Myf, excuse the mess - its about 60 seconds of fun which is pretty much how long you can entertain the concept of 190 millions years with a 6 year old!
And here is some factual stuff if you want to do the math! http://www.hawaii.edu/suremath/jsand.html
Excellent Dan! You’ve reminded me of something else too. When I worked selling apple macs I used to get people in all the time asking me about what what modems to buy and how to get wireless and this whole concept was quite difficult for a lot of people to fathom, so i used to draw them to explain! 9 times out of 10 it really resolved the issues they had understanding.
Myf > It was really a very interesting lecture and did make me think “oh!” many times, as with life though I ended up down the pub with a colleague at the time who was studying Artificial Intelligence who said his course considered him a bit of a show boating fraud. There you go. I’m going to facebook you my magazine article i think, but here’s a link with a more technical overview and pictures of the necklace: www.cs4fn.org/alife/cyborg.html
b