The term “mathematical art” usually conjures up images of M.C. Escher’s endless staircases, Möbius-strip ants, and mind-boggling tilings. Or it might remind one of the intimate intertwining of mathematics and art during the Renaissance with the development of perspective painting and eye-teasing stagecraft.
The realm of mathematical art is far wider and more diverse than many people realize, however. A recent exhibition at the Ringling School of Art and Design’s Selby Gallery in Sarasota, Fla., dramatically illustrated the broad range and depth of the burgeoning interaction between mathematics and art.