Numbers in Art

Looking at artists who have used numbers as symbols in

their paintings

Numbers and Art

Do you like numbers? Where do you see them?

What can you do with them? You can write the date and count

things. Numbers are on telephones,

houses and license plates.

The art of numbers

Most people do not notice the shape of a single number. Just like a tree or a boat, numbers have shapes. Artists sometimes use numbers in their art as if they were any shapes.

Charles Demuth and Jasper Johns used numbers in their art.

Charles Demuth

This is I Saw the Figure 5 in Gold.

The idea came from a poem by William Carlos Williams.

Look for Bill, Carlos, C.D. and W.C.W.

The Great Figure William Carlos Williams

Among the rain and lights I saw the figure 5 in gold on a red firetruck moving tense

unheeded to gong clangs siren howls and wheels

rambling through the dark

city.

In the poem the 5 is on the side of a speeding

firetruck Do the three 5s

look as though they are moving toward you? Do the colors remind you of the gold letters on a red firetruck?

Look again….

Do you like the designs behind the 5s?

Do these shapes remind you of the dark shapes of buildings, blurred by the passing fire truck ?

Jasper Johns

This is Numbers in Color.

Can you see the numbers?

Can you see the pattern?

Use numbers in your painting

Pick 5 numbers that mean something to you.

Trace them in the middle of your paper using stencils and templates.

Paint the numbers and background using light and dark values and show contrast.