Does beauty respond to mathematical rules? Is there an mathematical pattern to what we find esthetically pleasing? I think so. My interest in abstract forms is purely visual (my current photographic project centers on the abstract visual qualities of natural forms; more on this soon...) but I have been interested in artists and thinkers who have attempted to quantify that regularity in mathematical terms for a long time.
Iannis Xenakis was one such thinker and artist. As an engineer, a musician, an architect, and a mathematician, he explored the underlying patterns of beauty and worked with giants like Le Corbusier and Messianen. Now an exhibition of over 60 works on paper by Xenakis including sketches, architectural drawings, and mathematical notations is open at the Drawing Center in SoHo with the title: Iannis Xenakis: Composer, Architect, Visionary from Jan 15 till Apr 8.
Art in America has an interesting piece on it: The Mathematical Mind of Iannis Xenakis by Brienne Walsh. Synthetic and mainly historical in its approach, but worth reading.
Iannis Xenakis in Paris, around 1970.
A sketch by Xenakis from The Drawings Center's show.
