Patterns

PATTERNS

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And a heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.  William Blake    Auguries of Innocence

Art is both processes and motion and parts within them. Art patterns are linked to the understanding of metabolic, developmental and universal processes. Understanding these facts arises from understanding the patterns and processes by which nature sustains life. From the unique patterns of culture to Nature’s cycles; art is a process view of the cosmos. Art as a living system are understood by the abstractions of patterns in the world around us: numerical patterns, patterns of shape, patterns of motion, patterns of reasoning and meaning. The continual complexity of life is organized into patterns which repeat themselves theme and variations at each level of system. Art models these patterns in interdependent networks of relationships forming cultures. Culture forms patterns as unique changes in natural systems that cycle in evolutionary time.

Art is a representational system of an internal language of thought. It is an abstract level of deliberately arranged meaning with the purpose of communication for sustaining life. It allows humans to create and to study the structure of that system. Art models how complex systems function through the use of information in form, pattern and spacial organization.

A pattern whether part of nature, representing mathematical concepts, or imbedded in art relies upon three characteristics: a motif or unit, repetition, and a system of organization.

All the forces of life contain patterns. Mathematics, Art, Music, Animation and Literature can be considered to be abstractions of patterns in the world around us numerical patterns, patterns of shape, patterns of motion, patterns of reasoning.

The science of pattern formation deals with the visible, orderly outcomes of self organization and the common principles behind similar patterns in nature. Few patterns are global; most of them are context-specific, whether environmental, social, technological and economic.

Patterns are processes of systems which mirror environmental changes showing the complexity of earths current geography and climate. Patterns evolve over time as a story tracing perpetual motion which is how we have what we call history and movement of what we call time. These patterns trace changes in nature following sequences which are natures instructions of order. Understanding this movement in time with the structure of living systems is what we call processing.

Within systems, certain compositions of relationship are repetitive in patterns such as geometric shape, cycles and feedback loops. The repetition of our cellular structure or DNA mimicked in our behavior urges humans to seek familiar patterns. We seek pattern as information in color, shape, form and composition. These familiar patterns manifest in our daily lives in culture our food choices, rituals, belief systems and emerging structures. Pattern recognition is a discipline that explores systems of recurring relationships in information. It is inspired by aesthetics and compulsion for balance in order. Pythagoras explained patterns in nature such as the harmonies of music as arising from number, which he took to be the basic constituent of existence. Empedocles gave an evolutionary explanation for the structures of organisms. David Bohm describes human patterns of behavior as mirroring the behavior of elementary particles. Patterns are how we understand everything.