The Artist as Mathematician

[hillwalker]

THE ARTIST AS MATHEMATICIAN

He possessed the hexadecimal value of every possible combination,
marvelling at the almost exponential nature of shades
from aquamarine to cobalt yellow,
amaranth and vermillion to burnt umber.

The magical pulse of colour was an aberration,
a distortion,
a shift in shade
in need of correction.
No warmth of texture,
merely colour temperature read from the chart.

Colours held no reality any more – just wavelengths
recording in their own inimitable way the potential of heaven,
life before birth or even death
- labels as antiseptic as body tags on the cadaver of life.

He had the eye of an artist.
Could frame a scene,
see corners at the edge of perception,
crystallise a vision into pastel shades and strokes of colour.
But his fingers had never held a brush;
never caressed the sable pelt of a Paynes No. 9
or swept a swatch of life onto bare canvas...

Which is where he lingered when she brought up the matter of white.

He was a calibrator of hues
and where she saw virginal white,
tumultuous light emblazoning blue sky,
he saw Dove White, Cadmium White.
Not the white of weddings or lilies
but the white of finality;
the white of the winding sheet,
white noise,
white light,
whiteout…

H

[Delta40]

I appreciated it from S4 onwards. Before that - my head swam.

[Hawkman]

Yes, Delta I can see why it might have. Hi hill, I think Delta is raising a valid point here. The opening verse particularly seems to bombard the reader with a barrage of terms which are not all entirely appropriate. For example, "He possessed the hexadecimal value of every possible combination" Is possessed the right word here? A colour might "possess" a hexadecimal value, as indeed do characters as letters etc. but can a he, i.e. a person, possess a hexadecimal value? In context possession implies ownership which itself isn't really appropriate. "He knew" I think might be a better word here, in context. Also, "of every possible combination" the subject, colour or shade has not been stated. Of makes the combination sounds lke a security safe combination and confuses the subject in the line. He knew hexadecimal values in every possible combination," would make more sense.

Can shades have an exponential nature? Number, yes but nature doesn't really fit. Certainly, the reference to colour temperature would be appropriate to white balancing and as the hexadecimal reference places us in the realm of digital photography I can see what you are getting at here. But reading it from a chart doesn't quite work for me. It's something which must be measured in order to apply the appropriate correction, "given value" rather than read from a chart, perhaps.

I don't see how you associate labels with anti-septic either. "As" implies an existiing correlation between the two which doesn't really exist for the reader.

Penultimately, pelt applied to a paintbrush isn't really the right word. A pelt is a skin. Brushes generally aren't made of skin. Bristles, fibres or hairs yes, but not pelts. it reads oddly.

My last quibble is the appearance of "She" in the last verse. Who is "She"? There has been no reference to a she before. If you were creating comparisons between the two throught the poem then I think it would have worked better, but just one she requires exposition I feel. This last is of course a subjective response. I can see where you are coming from but I'd like to have seen some reference to the female earlier in the poem.

Word choices aside, I do feel this is an interesting and ambitious poem which succeeds in highlighting the difference between the cold, calcualting and analytical nature of the one, versus the emotional spontaneity of the other. Sort of like knowing the price of everything and the value of nothing. So I guess the overall effect of the poem comes across, despite some peculiarities of expression and some digressive elements, like:

"life before birth or even death
- labels as antiseptic as body tags on the cadaver of life."

which I feel is a bit overwritten and possibly a touch pretentious.

Still, an interesting read. Thanks for sharing.

Live and be well - H

[sundarramchand]

I suppose by white u mean "white" in the abstract electromagnetic wave sense, that is a broadband mix of all wavelengths and not white as we understand it ???

I suppose what you are trying to imply is that how we perceive objects has to do with coherent patterns of texture, color and shape that seem to vary in a similar and significant fashion.

Really sincere poem in the sense that it seems to have the noble purpose of unifying the scientific view of color with the human quest for "significant" patterns in the abstract world of science

[Jeos]

Tell me Mr. Hill you write poems with "compass & ruler?"
What a glacial breeze.

[hillwalker]

Tell me Mr. Hill you write poems with "compass & ruler?"
What a glacial breeze.

Hi Jeos - Thanks for reading and responding.
And you are correct. That was my intention in this poem. To write as artlessly and clinically as possible in order to portray the mindset of someone who, as Hawk noted, knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. So if you found it cold and calculated then it achieved its intention.

sundarramchand - the poem was inspired by your latest post about the Nile - so yes, it was an attempt to reveal how some seek a specific scientific explanation for everything rather than trust themselves to make a rather less accurate aesthetic judgement about reality.

Hawk - thanks also for your meticulous analysis. You obviously got the tone of the piece despite finding some of my word choices not to your liking.
By 'possess' I meant the possession of the list of hexadecimal values (since to know all 16,777,216 would be a tall order). It could have been expressed more clearly perhaps.
'labels as antiseptic as body tags' I thought was straightforward enough to understand - a body tag is a rather bland, impersonal label attached to an individual whose life has already expired for whatever reason - and to me the same might apply to giving colours numerical values.
I agree that 'pelt' isn't the most appropriate word in this context although the term can apply to a fur-bearing skin.
The appearance of 'she' was intended as a jolt of reality - the fact that we don't know who she is or where she came from is neither here nor there - but hopefully we can interpret her role in the poem as the voice of the artistic muse perhaps.

Delta - Thanks also for reading and commenting. If you read the rest of this response you will see that the first four verses were intentionally written in a style to confound. I was trying to write as unpoetic a poem as possible!

H

[Delta40]

Well done Hill, you confounded me!

[Astromaxis]

A beautiful poem. I loved the way it flowed :)

[hillwalker]

Thank you Astro

[Jack of Hearts]

Well getting to read the explanation made this reader like what was going on... Although everything in him repulses from long lines and extraneous words.




J

[sundarramchand]

thanks !!!

I trust you do not think of my poem as "cold and calculated". It was anything but that. There was thought and reflection but there was also inspiration.
Also, my feeling about your motivation in your trying to unify the two viewpoints (Apollonian and Dionysian !!!) was far more optimistic than your stated analysis of your poem (which i felt was too long and detailed to be a parody !!!)
I think, the mathematician like the philosopher, dramatist, writer etc has to combine the elements of a cinematographer (dealing with imagery) as well as a director (plot / storyline) in that one has to combine many "aesthetic views of reality" into a whole that is coherent, that is individual / subjective while still aspiring to a greater objective truth / reality and which is spontaneous.
I feel this is the reason why most philosophers and writers become successful later in life. I feel, contrary to popular perception, this is also true of mathematics and mathematicians, especially in the case of the creators of theories / paradigms that are "significant" and stand the test of time.
I feel in the case of the mentioned disciplines, "point of view" becomes more important than skill / talent, especially as time goes by.

[Haunted]

Very interesting in so many ways. It's really dry especially in the beginning of the poem, but the subject matter dictates that. "Which is where he lingered when she brought up the matter of white" — hysterical!

I relate to the last stanza. Oh a few weeks ago I was going to write a poem using the concept of cmyk but hell if I remember what it was about. If I think hard enough it might come back to me eventually but your poem just reminded me of a lost unwritten poem LOL so thank you!

[hillwalker]

Hi Jack - I'm glad you found some redeeming features in this piece despite the 'long lines and extraneous words'. As you can see, it was a deliberate aberration.

sundarramchand - I wasn't suggesting your poem was as clinical as my effort, as I'm sure you know. But reading it delivered a particular train of thought that I leapt aboard and followed to a new destination.

And Haunted - I'm pleased you saw through the technical jargon and discovered some gentle humour. Hope it inspires you enough to rediscover your lost poem.
:idea:

H