Intuitive Beauty in Adaptation

Natural patterns such as symmetries, fractals, meanders, tessellations, fractures, and many more create sensory biases exploited by the survival of natural selection to biological signals and further evoke human artistic innovation. This accounts for the observed convergence of structural forms in nature and decorative art (Enquist and Arak 169).

The exhibit Intuitive Beauty in Adaptation attempts to capture this contemplation on the origins of perceived beauty, through a rubric of selected natural patterns.

Leonardo da Vinci’s Vitruvian Man (1490), illustrates an ideal symmetry of the human form as both a standard of measurement and a driving force of civilization that transcends mere geometric proportions to embody a model of human performance (Strongman).

In correspondence, research indicates that preferences for symmetry have been observed to evolve to assess mate quality since deviations from symmetry suggest reduced fitness of certain species (Enquist and Arak 172).

The display assumes a connection between Vinci’s conception of ideal proportions and the intuitive sense of aesthetics that is evolutionarily derived from symmetrical patterns in nature. Vitruvian Man observes human anatomy as its natural reference to beauty, which is validated universally by its archetypal representation of the High Renaissance.

Fractals are patterns that recur at various levels of a spatial scale. The continuity in fractal detail is pervasive throughout natural systems across different scales of observation. For example, in the branching structures of rivers, contours of landscapes, shorelines of continents, flow patterns of clouds, and so on (Friedenberg et al. 100).

One: Number 31, 1950 by Jackson Pollock employs a radical drip technique vital to his contribution to Abstract Expressionism. The dynamic gesture of this method strikingly resembles fractal patterns, which is analysed by mathematician, Richard Taylor in terms of its aesthetic value. The findings suggest that pleasure or stress reduction is the physiological resonance to fluent visual processing such as fractal imagery (Williams).

Meanders are sinuous bends in rivers or other channels, which form as a fluid, most often water, flows around bends. Its resemblance in art has been conceptualised by William Hogarth in his book, ‘The Analysis of Beauty’. The Serpentine Line, or Line of Beauty, takes the form of an S-shaped curve, evoking movement and liveliness, one which ‘leads the eye in a pleasing manner along the continuity of its variety’.

Hogarth conjures six principles under his Analysis of Beauty, two of which are implications of the effect a meander or serpentine line has on the human aesthetic sense. The first, “variety” is claimed by Hogarth to be the source of beauty. This is a conditional factor, in which it requires relief from varietal experience, and hence must be a “composed variety.” This denotes his third principle, “composed variety”, a temperament of simplicity which enhance the pleasure of variety.

As observed from The Analysis of Beauty, Plate 1 and Plate 2, Hogarth’s breakdown of the applications of the meander, can be considered equally a natural phenomenon as it is a keen observation of artistic creation. It borrows from the composed variety of a meandering river, paving dynamic environments in support of diverse ecosystems. Its intentional sinuous course shapes a delicate balance in the habitats it can forge.

A tessellation is the composition of well-balanced planes, shapes and geometry. It is determined by its inherent need for a space to appear closed within the structural formation. Preferences for tessellations in aesthetics imply sensory habituation to comprehend external stimuli as a whole rather than their respective parts (Parkar).

Fractures, or cracks are linear openings that form in materials to relieve stress. They can act as hydraulic conductors, providing pathways for fluid flow or barriers that prevent flow across them. Many petroleum, gas, geothermal, and water supply reservoirs form in fractured rocks.

An inquisitive observation I came across during my curation of Intuitive Beauty in Adaptation, was how it intersects with subjective or learned perception of beauty. While there are convincing arguments in favour of our intuitive preferences for art that resemble natural patterns, where does that come into place when we don’t limit ourselves to ‘art’? Consider the evolutionary conditioning that has shaped conventional standards of beauty today. What we consider ugly in fact, has greater resemblances to natural patterns. We seem to have lost the ability to introspect what we appreciate from external beauty.