The Structure of Paintings

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Speaker
Michael Leyton
Professor, DIMACS and Rutgers University

When
-

Where
Newell-Simon Hall 1305 (Michael Mauldin Auditorium)

Description

A series of books of mine have developed an approach to geometry which argues that shape is equivalent to memory storage. In connection with this, a substantial review of aesthetic structure, both of artworks and scientific theories, lead to the conclusion that aesthetics is the means of retrieving the memory contents of shape. A principal argument of this theory is that artworks are maximal memory stores. Based upon this, it is possible to give completely systematic and highly revealing analyses of art works.

Speaker's Bio

Professor Leyton received a BS degree in Mathematics from Warwick University (England), and a PhD in Psychology from UC Berkeley. He was a recipient of a Presidential Young Investigator Award. His process-grammar for describing shape history has been used in over 20 scientific disciplines from chemical engineering to meteorology. He is president of the International Society for Mathematical and Computational Aesthetics. Currently he is involved in ISO work—international standardization in the aerospace and mechanical engineering industry—as well as research in control systems in robots.

Speaker's Website
http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~mleyton/homepage.htm