Chaos and order: Entropy as a dynamic process in art

Monica L Farrar, Purdue University

Abstract

This thesis explores how the scientific principle of entropy exists as a dynamic process within traditional and contemporary visual art forms. The intention of this thesis is to support the author's theories and practices within her own visual work. It connects her conceptual foundation and process of organizing entropy within the boundaries of the picture plane to the greater artistic and theoretical field. Drawing from historical and contemporary examples, the argument grows into defense of the conceptual and aesthetic connection between the continual movement between chaos and order in modern life and the artists' use of the boundaries of the picture plane as a container capable of organization entropic, chaotic elements. The analysis of the scientific concept of entropy is explored in conjunction with the human desire for organization to reveal the means by which artists utilize the picture plane as a means of ordering chaos. Rudolph Arnheim's Entropy and Art: An Essay on Disorder and Order along with scientific principles of entropy and complexity serve as a theoretical foundation for the argument of the boundaries of the picture plane as a container to organize entropy. The scientific principle of entropy and the new theory of depletion force are explored in the work of many historical and contemporary artists to support the means by which artists utilize the dichotomy of organization and entropy within their work. Victorian women's collage albums, the collage and montage works of modern artists Pablo Picasso, Kurt Schwitters, Max Ernst, Hannah Höch, Romare Bearden, and Robert Rauschenberg, contemporary artists Julie Mehretu, Nicola López, and Matthew Ritchie, and the visual work of the author are the primary examples investigated throughout the discussion. These examples reveal how the use of the boundaries of the picture plane as a means of containing and organizing entropy evolve and continue to expand to accommodate the contemporary climate and advancing technology, information access, and globalized society. This discussion defends the strong relationship between the conceptual desire to respond to surrounding entropy and the use of the boundaries of the picture plane as a means of organizing within complex static images. This theory creates a foundation for the existence of entropy as a dynamic process within art. It demonstrates the ability of artists to order chaos and simultaneously embrace the dichotomy of organization and entropy within their work. The discussion examines how organization allows for further understanding, manipulation, and communication in artists' interpretations of elements from increasingly complex contemporary surroundings that have inherent vagueness. This theory impacts the way artists, viewers, and society understands the continual dynamic entropic process of life.

Degree

M.F.A.

Advisors

Reeves, Purdue University.

Subject Area

Fine arts

COinS