Quantum Artistic Styles Influenced by Physics

Quantum Artistic Styles Influenced by Physics

Physicists attempt to share with the world the mysteries of the creation and universe around us understandably and clearly, but they do not at all times make through they expected. It is a hard challenge though, since the wonders of the Galaxy, the Solar System, and the ever-expanding outer space require more of their creativity than can be articulated by an equation or numbers in a table. Nevertheless, a work of art has, and can exclusively inspire them to dream generously, look closely, and to understand plainly, anything from the largest discovery to the most negligible curiosity on the earth. One such artist who articulated world phenomena by work of art, actually a painting, is Julian Voss-Andrea. He used the quantum theory in his visualization hypothesis made famous by Max Planck and Philip Lenard in 1902 (Brown, Lemay & Bursten 33).

Rodney (14) defines quantum as a branch of physics that explains the physical behaviors at the atomic, sub-atomic, and molecular levels. It refers to the least amount of any physical body occupied in an interaction. It is the fundamental idea that anything with mass, electrons, and protons including vehicles, animals, and people, have a wavelength. The word quantum originates from the Greek word ‘Quantus’ that literary stands for ‘how much’. Thus, the word quantum in physics simply put, explains that anything that has weight and occupies space also has wavelengths just like light. That is, they may be quantized into a wave. Just like the energy of an electron hurdled to a set of atoms or an atom is quantized. The result is the stability and steadiness of atoms and, consequently, stability of matter in general.

Voss-Andreae found an artistic way to quantize man. His statue that was named quantum Man II is made of a series of steel sheets. They form an image of a human when observed from one perspective. They then almost disappear when viewed from another. The statue behaves like the diffraction prototype of a wave where the front of the sheets is unmistakably visible. The sculpture seems to fade away and reappear as one moves past it. The sheets of steel are uniformly separated by about a three-quarter inch, just a little larger than the real de Broglie human wavelength of approximately 10^-38 M (Melville 11). The monument is dazzling in both its ability to capture in immobility difficult to confine phenomena and aesthetic value. It is a notion that is time and again, complicated to clarify with words.

Quantum is a detail that only a wizard of physics can point out, and only an artist could be proud of. Objects that are real in the quantum universe do not really exist as conventional objects. Perhaps that is the reason that classifies them as quantum.

Voss-Andreae put it that when he started the project he had a mental picture of physicists in mind. He wanted to craft something that scientists in the field of physics could relate to. Melville (13) has it that his creativity though, helped the scientific fact to be more palatable to the general public since most of the scientists are well versed in it in its hypothetical state.

Physicists still try to come up with illustrations of an electron revolving about a nucleus, recently depicting it as an image that looks like a cloud circling the nucleus, but few have come close to the mystical dimensional sculpture by Julian Voss-Andreae.

The Quantum Man II Sculpture The American Centre for Physics

Artist: Julian Voss-Andraea
Title: Quantum Man II
Date: Dec 8^th, 2008
Medium: Photograph

Works Cited

Brown, LeMay & Bursten, Chemistry: ‘The Central Science’ Upper Saddle River, (2008) Article.

Melville, K. Real-World Quantum Effects Demonstrated. (2005) E-journal

Rodney, B. Fields of Color: The theory that escaped Einstein. Allegra, (2011) Print.