This project is unlike the others because it's a self initiated experiment that challenges the fine line between math and art. This piece is personal because it documents my exploration in discovering what it means to be simultaneously an artist and lover of math. Through months of research, I discovered that my artistic side and mathematical side could be morphed together to form the design side of me – which I consider to be every part of me. This project took many turns and eventually settled in a motion graphic format. I would definitely consider this project to be the beginning of a series of projects centered around the topic of art and math.
The most challenging aspect of this project was definitely having to work around being in quarantine. I will also admit that the circumstances did fuel various ideas. I began this project thinking I was going to come up with a new way to visually explain math – calculus in particular. This idea then shifted into explaining how calculus shows up in real world situations which then shifted to focusing on the concept of infinity. Once I began my research on infinity I was lead down a never ending rabbit hole and it was definitely challenging to stay grounded to one idea. I became fascinated with the concept of infinity because it's so thoroughly represented in mathematics as well as heavily portrayed in art. My new challenge was to find the connection between infinity and how we perceive things – I guess particularly how I perceive things.
I decided to draw from my personal experience with the hope that maybe people would be able to relate or put themselves in my shoes. I felt that life was like moving along a straight line with a starting point and a finish. Life can feel very predetermined and like we are all working towards this one unattainable thing. It can feel like there is only one right path and if you don't unlock the secret to moving along it, you're simply stuck in the middle. What if there were several paths? What would it mean if the path never had an end?
This motion graphic explores several topics about life, success, and my personal struggle with thinking I needed to choose between math and art. It may not be math and art for everyone but maybe their struggle is with the natural and the artificial, relationships and singularity, or any other seemingly dissimilar subjects. Challenging those opposites and seeing how they can actually come together in an infinite number of ways just might change our perspective about where life is headed.