| Bio History Note | DVD of 19 February 2007 Convocation. Professor James. R. C. Adams presents an explanation of the symbols used in his three paintings created for display in the lobby of the Science Center (first floor). Introduction by John Planer.
The following is a written explanation of the paintings by James R. C. Adams: Ars Sine Scientia Nihil Scientia Sine Arte Nihil REFERENCES IN THE PAINTINGS
There is a great sharing of shapes
and concepts among the sciences, hence, among the paintings. The
logarithmic, Fibonacci spirals, and those based on the Golden Mean can be seen
throughout nature. In the paintings, some represent the chambered
nautilus, others the microscopic Elphidium, and still others, perhaps, the
fossils of ammonites. Behind all of these sciences lies
mathematics. It is the uniting factor.
Byron Smith, a former student
made this interesting statement regarding the relationship among the
sciences:
“If Mathematics and Physics
are partners in a marriage, Chemistry is their progeny, intellectually, at
least. If chemistry is the child of math and physics, then (cell) biology
is chemistry’s child, and a most promising and precocious one at that.”
Each painting has a
background color scheme, consisting of the six primary colors. That is,
one set of additive colors, and a corresponding set of subtractive
colors.
The physics painting has cyan
at the bottom, gradually becoming blue as one approaches the top.
The biology painting has
green at the bottom and yellow at the top.
The chemistry painting has
magenta at the bottom, and red at the top.
So the tops of each painting
represent the primaries of the pigment theory (subtractive), while the bottoms
represent the light theory (additive. These background colors are
to one extent or the other obscured by overlying details which are symbolic of
principles related to the subject, plus references to contributions by
Manchester graduates.
Although the symbols have an
obvious scientific reference, they are also related to the arts, so that
musicians and artists might find references which could be lost on scientists,
and vice-versa.
BLUE In the physics painting,
there are references to “pre-scientific” thinking about the nature of matter,
including the Chinese “elements.” From top to bottom, they are: mú
(wood), hwu (fire), jin (metal), shwei (water), tu (earth). There are
early scientific constructs regarding atomic structure, applications of the
Golden Mean, root 2 rectangles, Fibonacci sequences, Planck’s Constant,
Einstein, cloud-chamber imagery, fractals, deep-space objects, such as the
Great Nebula in Orion, as photographed by graduate Bradford Adams, the G-5 chip
for Apple, from a design team led by graduate Norman Rohrer (the h is
the symbol for Planck’s Constant, a foundation block of quantum theory).
The wavy blue field represents the use of a scanning tunneling microscope to
measure the location of individual molecules through what is described as “the
trick of quantum uncertainty,” related to calculations by Werner Heisenberg.
The constructions relate to connections between the Golden Mean and the
Fibonacci series with regard to both art and music. In addition to the Golden
Rectangle, there is a “root-2 rectangle, a much chosen proportion in our
culture. The Greek phi symbol, F, refers to the Golden Ratio, 1.618.
There are at least two applications to music. At the lower left, there is
a red network that is a representation of the use of the Fibonacci series in
the composition of the Motet No.6, by Machaut. The f found on
stringed instruments is said to be a reference to Fibonacci. And more
than one reference to quantum mechanics can be found at the right. The web-like
shape represents a “period doubling plot,” or logistic map, and is an
example of a “strange attractor.” It is related to chaos theory as well
as to fractals. Below that are representations of an atom, both as
thought of as a mini solar-system, and then as a nucleus surrounded by electron
clouds. There are frequent references to the evolution of conceptions of
the atomic world, with primitive symbols as well as more sophisticated ones.
GREEN The Biology painting has most
obviously, a representation of the chambered nautilus. In fact there are
two examples. Often, art historians point out that the nautilus is based
on the Golden Mean. The large example IS based on the Golden Mean.
But the small version represents the actual shape of a chambered nautilus, which
clearly is NOT based on the Golden Mean. It IS based on a logarithmic spiral,
but NOT on one associated with the Golden Mean. The figure inside the uppermost
region of the nautilus is the protozoan elphidium, showing large and small
versions of the spiral. Other shapes, such as the fiddle-head fern (Maui), have
to do with the Fibonacci series. The lower portion of the panel shows
protozoa (from left to right: paramecium, tintinnopsis campanula, mayorella
vespertilio), above which are shapes of coral like those found in Fiji, and
above that one finds primitive, or prehistoric forest growth. Evolution is
implied. Above that, and to the right, is a suggestion of the
result of acid rain on the planet, in which one might find imbedded, the symbol
for sulfuric acid, H2SO4, which MC graduate Gene Likens identified as the
principal culprit in acid rain. The strange rosette is a reference to the
work graduate Dale Oxender did with recombinant DNA. It is the
double-helix seen from one end.
RED The Chemistry painting has
most prominently, a representation of a benzene ring. C6H6. This was
a major breakthrough in organic chemistry. It was said to have come to
Friedrich Kekulé in a dream, and led to the visualization of many organic
chemicals of the “aromatic” compounds, so-named because of their odor.
The blue structure at the
upper right represents the molecular structure of Teflon, referring to
graduates Roy Plunkett, and Paul Flory. Flory won the Nobel Prize for his work
in polymers. Polytetrafluoroethylene (Teflon) relates to both. The
explosive effect that dominates the upper left quadrant is derived from a
photomicrograph of a synthesized flavor, lemon, but it also relates to the
Nobel Prize, won by Flory. The funds of the Nobel Foundation come from
the invention of dynamite! The pattern dominating the lower part is derived
from another photomicrograph of the amino-acid, lysine.
The invention of mauve was a
chemical breakthrough, but the color proved too fugitive for use by artists,
although it was a god-send to fabric dyers. A modern substitute for mauve
is used in this painting in reference to that early invention of a
pigment. None of the pigments in this painting was available to
Renaissance painters; they are the result of the work of chemists of the nineteenth
and twentieth centuries. These brilliant colors are either salts of
various metals (chrome, cadmium, barium, manganese, or cobalt), or coal-tar or
azo dyes, the result of organic chemistry.
The pentagram is a reference
to alchemy, and the symbols on either side refer to the idea of lead’s being
transformed by the “philosopher’s stone” into gold.
In an effort to show the
interrelatedness of the scientific disciplines, the paintings share some of the
symbols or colors, or both.
These paintings are allusive,
or referential, rather than illusional or representational. Most people
would imagine the former would be easier to paint than the latter. Not
so. It is far easier to look at something or someone and paint it to look
“normal.” Allusive or referential painting requires many more
decisions. It is rather like a chess game, where every optional move
could result in a myriad of sequential events, all of which (or as many as
possible) must be anticipated before a move should be made.
The paintings were intended
to be on canvas, but that idea had to be abandoned when the canvases
warped. I realized that even if I re-stretched the canvas and solved the
warping, it would have been difficult to add the three-dimensional elements, so
I switched to Masonite.
After adding the rectangles,
I decided they were in the wrong place, and I tried to remove them.
Removing them was impossible, so I had to start over again on a new
piece. The physics painting is oil over acrylic. The other two
paintings are acrylic only.
About
the slogan, Ars Sine Scientia Nihil; Scientia Sine Arte Nihil. The
first half is a statement by the Gothic Master Builder Jean Mignot in 1392, in
reference to the continuing work on the dome of the Milan cathedral. The
second half is my addition. Of course, it means: Art without science is
nothing; science without art is nothing. I have since discovered that the
first part of the saying is an exact quotation, but it turns out to be the
second half of a longer one. The first half of the original quotation
turns out to be what I thought I had invented. So Jean Mignot had already
made the point that I thought I was making, but in reverse. My
translation is modern. The original statement meant that craftsmanship
without understanding is nothing; understanding without craftsmanship is
nothing.
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