Albrecht Dürer(01 of09)
Open Image ModalMelencolia I is a 1514 work by the German Renaissance artist Albrecht Dürer. In the top right hand of the oft-theorized print contains a magic square, in which the numbers in the four quadrants, corners and centers equal the same number, 34. (Which also happens to be in the Fibonacci sequence.) \n\nCampbell Dodgson wrote of the work: \"The literature on Melancholia is more extensive than on any other engraving by Dürer: that statement would probably remain true if the last two words were omitted.\"
Leonardo Da Vinci(02 of09)
Open Image ModalDa Vinci believed the patterns of the universe could be mapped onto the microcosm of the human body. His drawing \"The Vitruvian Man,\" inspired by the architect Vitruvius, shows Da Vinci\'s interest in the ideal proportions of the human form. One proportion predicted the space between one\'s legs would form an equilateral triangle.
Akira Yoshizawa (03 of09)
Open Image ModalYoshizawa, born in 1911, is known today as the grandmaster of Origami. The folding devotee developed the Yoshizawa–Randlett system of folding, a method involving a series of symbols, arrows and diagrams that guides many an origami artist today. He made some 50,000 models in his life time, none of which he ever sold. (credit:Wiki commons)
Dennis Koch(04 of09)
Open Image ModalWho says fractals can\'t be fun? Dennis Koch\'s colorful canvasses first appear to be abstract, but the works are actually visual manifestations of mathematical codes and theories in Physics.\n\nYet Koch shows that even though he works in geometrical recursion, his paintings look like inviting Froot Loops. He applies Systems Theory to his works, layering different steps to create a great, overarching superstructure. This leads the piece to almost create itself on loop, with each work buzzing with an individual, cohesive energy.\n (credit:Marine Contemporary)
M.C. Escher(05 of09)
Open Image ModalEscher was not a formal mathematician by any means (he only had a high school education in the subject), but he was fascinated by the visual identity of mathematical concepts. Working mostly in lithographs and woodcuts, Escher explored the relationships between shape and space, interlocking figures in multi-dimensional planes and eternally spiraling spaces. He developed a serious obsession with impossible objects like the Necker Cube and the Penrose Triangle, as well as with ordered arrangements and absolute symmetry. (credit:Image from M.C. Escher by Taschen Books.)
Jen Stark(06 of09)
Open Image ModalWith Rainbow Brite colors and an unbelievably steady hand, Stark creates otherworldly fractal sculptures. We can\'t tell if we\'re looking at a wormhole, a dreamcatcher or a chemical compound, but we\'re fascinated nevertheless.\n\nStark explained her fascination with the macro and the micro to Cool Hunting: \"I love thinking about how enormous shapes out in the universe can have the same patterns as tiny microorganisms under a microscope. How geometric shapes and certain spiraling patterns apply to designs in nature big and small. Also, it is interesting to me how much we still don\'t know about science and the way things work.\" (credit:Martha Otero)
Leo Villareal(07 of09)
Open Image ModalVillareal, the LED maestro behind the light sculptured facade at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, harnesses universal phenomena through tangible objects. The slow choreography of the galaxy or the inscrutable mathematics of molecules gain a digestible and almost empathetic narrative through the artist\'s touch.\n\nThis sculpture, dubbed \"BUCKYBALL,\" is an ode to inventor Buckminster Fuller\'s geodesic dome, an incredibly strong sphere-shaped structure made of triangles. Villareal\'s lights are arranged in a series of pentagons and hexagons that mirror \"Fullerene\" molecules, which are -- you guessed it -- named for its resemblance to Fuller\'s invented shape. (credit:Mad Sq. Art)
Tauba Auerbach(08 of09)
Open Image ModalAuerbach\'s work toys with the conventional ways we see and process images. Her pieces hover in the ambiguous zone between order and chaos, revealing where logic and formulas fail to explain complexity. In the work pictured Auerbach folded her canvas before painting it, thus creating something both flat and three dimensional. (credit:Courtesy of Paula Cooper Gallery.)
Tom Wilkinson(09 of09)
Open Image ModalWilkinson\'s work examines the patterns created by particles in motion. \"Green Ray\" is an experiment in which spinning lights are used to create the illusion of a solid form, in this case a sphere, which Wilkinson considers to be the purest form in the world. The work, which was featured at Kinetica Art Fair, revels in its status as an unfinished scientific journey. (credit:Kinetica, MutualArt)