Geometry teaches us that the line is made up of an infinite number points.
Art considers a line as a moving dot.
1. The measure of a line is its length and its width.
When a line is considered as a moving dot, the dots that comprise it can be of any size (creating a line of various widths), and the dots can be of any number (creating a line of various lengths).
2. Expressive Qualities of Line-
Delicate
Tentative
Elegant
Assertive
Forceful
Brutal
We can see that the character of Pollock’s lines are very gestured, loose and fluid. The painted marks swell and contract in their width. They record the action and movement of the artist.
When compared to the last slide we see a huge difference in this work. Sol Lewitt takes a very precise, controlled mathematical approach. The lines vary in their direction, but feel very homogenous because they are uniform in width and straightness. This work is a conceptual installation. The directions for it’s installation would be sent to a museum for replication.
Contour Lines- created by the edges of things.
Actual lines- connected and continuous
Implied lines- completed by the viewer
See the next slide for examples of each
A. Actual contour
Implied (breaks in the line are completed by our mind and read as a contour)
C. Implied (the ending points of the lines create an implied contour)
In this work our eye can read contours of a three dimensional object because of the subtle differences in value and texture.
A common technique during the Renaissance was to create compositional structures in pyramids or triangles. Here we see these kinds of compositional implied lines or alignments to compose structure through the gestures and glances of the figures.
Implied lines are left open for the viewer to finish (figures and cigars)
Generally, lines that are horizontal suggest rest or stability. Vertical lines def gravity and suggest assertiveness or strength. Diagonal lines imply movement and directionality.
These are some of the techniques artists use to create the illusion of 3-dimensions on 2-dimensional surfaces.
When we talk about shape, we are usually referring to something flat (2-dimensional) in a painting, drawing, photograph etc.
This is a composition of simple, colorful geometric shapes. Shapes are created by intersecting vertical and horizontal lines.
This is a photograph of a 3-dimensional work inspired by the painting of Mondrian which we saw in the last slide. Now we say “forms”, instead of shapes because we are talking about a work that interacts with real space.
You can see the inspiration of Mondrian in this work as well.
Actual Mass-This work has actual mass and occupies real 3-D space.
Implied Mass-Because this is a painting on a 2-D surface, the objects depicted have the illusion of weight, volume and mass.
In the next few slides let’s look at some examples of what these look like.
Biomorphic - resemble biological entities
Amorphic - are not clearly defined or derived from nature or the laws of geometry
The term “Figure/Ground” is another way of saying “Positive/Negative”.
The figure includes the part or parts of the work that are seen as what the artist intended to depict.
The ground includes the other parts, or the background.
When an artist paints a red apple on a blank white canvas, not only is he creating the apple shape, but he is also creating a shape that we read as the background. He cannot create one without simultaneously creating the other. We don’t usually pay attention to negative shapes because our eye is quickly drawn to the positives. Perhaps this will be better explained with the next slide.
This is a commonly used example of how both positive and negative shapes, when equally considered, can create what is called figure-ground reversal. Artists are trained to utilize both the positive and negative shapes or spaces. We will see some examples in the next slides.
Clearly we see that this sculpture utilizes the spaces between it’s massive tunnels. They are crucial to the way we see the work.
Because of the layers of 2-D and 3-D imagery in this work, our eye is continually moving, not able to distinguish a real positive, or negative. All of the shapes are pretty equal in their emphasis.
The interplay in this work between the silhouetted foreground imagery and the background imagery, also the light and dark contrast, creates a nice figure/ground interplay that holds the viewers interest.
Visible light is part of the spectrum of electomagnetic energy that includes radio waves, cosmic rays, x-rays etc.
A color’s Value refers to its lightness or darkness.
Value contrast refers to the degrees of difference between shades of gray. In general our eye is attracted to things with high contrast because they are easier to see. You can see this illustrated in the diagrams on page 46 in your text.
Chiaroscuro-A gradual shifting from light to dark through a successive gradation of tones across a curved surface. This is a technique artists use to give the illusion of 3-dimensions to a 2-dimensional surface. A way to model. Sometimes this is done in a way that is loose and gestured, and sometimes it is done so sensitively that an image can look photographic.
We have seen some examples of how value can be used to visually describe things. It can also be used in a way that is more conceptual or emotional.
“White”, “Black”, “Grey”, all have associations for us. The associations may differ for each of us, but artists can use the meanings of these associations to communicate messages and attempt to get our attention.
Color is a central element in the language of art. Color is probably the most expressive of all of the elements because it has the ability to affect our emotions directly. We do not have to rationalize what we see in colors. Color is reflective. A surface either absorbs or reflects wavelengths.
Sunlight (or white light) can be broken down into different colors by a prism.
Hue is determined by the wavelength of light.
Value is its degree of lightness or darkness.
Saturation is its pureness.
Complementary colors- are opposite one another on the color wheel: red/green, yellow/violet etc.
Pigment- is used in the subtractive color mixing process. Usually we associate these with coloring matter that is mixed with other material to produce paint.
Achromatic and neutrals- Black, white and grays.
Primary colors- are those we cannot produce by mixing other hues: red, blue, and yellow.
Secondary colors- result from mixing pigments of the primary colors: orange, green, violet.
Tertiary colors- are created by mixing pigments of primary and adjoining secondary colors.
Analogous colors lie next to one another on the color wheel.
They form families of color:
Yellow and orange
Orange and red
Green and blue
Local color- the hue of an object as created by the color its surface reflects under normal lighting conditions
Optical color- our perceptions of color, which can vary markedly with lightnign conditions.
In this slide, as well as the next, we see color used in very expressive or emotional ways that don’t necessarily describe the actual or local color that the objects had when the artist’s were observing them. Artists change or exaggerate colors to serve their own purposes.
Texture- is the surface characteristic of something, smooth, bumpy, gritty, etc. Texture can be both tactile (touched and felt), or visual (seen with the eye).
The element of texture adds a significant dimension to art beyond representation.
An artist may emphasize or even distort the textures of objects to evoke a powerful emotional response in the viewer.
Some types of texture- Actual, Visual, Subversive.
Actual- Usually, in art, when we talk about the actual texture of something, we are doing so in the context of 3-dimensional work like sculpture, crafts or architecture. When you touch an object, your fingertips register sensations of its actual texture: rough, smooth, sharp, hard, and soft.
Visual- 2-dimensional works can definitely have actual texture, but usually we are looking at an illusion of texture which is visual, simulation.
Subversive- is chosen by the artist to undermine our ideas about the objects that they depict. This technique compels the viewer to look again at an object and to think about it more deeply.
Impasto- the thick buildup of paint on the surface of the canvas. This gives a painting “actual” texture.
In this painting we see the use of impasto which helps to create the dark mood we sense.
Because we exist in a 3-dimensional world, artists have to decide how to address 3-dimensional space, literally or figuratively.
Lots of overlapping in this piece serves not to create an illusion of real space, rather a pushing and pulling of lots of images.
Things that are lower in the composition are read as being closer to the viewer, while things that are higher picture plane are read as being further away.
Systematic linear perspective, as a technique, was mastered during the Renaissance. The idea is to visually simulate a horizon line at eye level, on which parallel lines converge at vanishing points.
One point perspective uses a single vanishing point. The vanishing point does not have to be in the center of the composition however.
These diagram the use of two point perspective. Notice two vanishing points.
Atmospheric Perspective creates the illusion of depth through such techniques as texture gradients, brightness gradients, color saturation, and the manipulation of warm and cool colors.
Texture- objects that have more distinct textures tend to appear closer to us
Brightness- objects in the distance seem less intense, and vice versa
Warm colors advance
Cool colors recede
Alexander Calder is well known for his kinetic mobiles. The piece is ever moving and changing as it’s viewer are also changing their positions.
Works like this use motion and the capturing of a moment in time as central themes.
Implied motion and time are just that, they are alluded to using different techniques.
Bernini uses strong diagonals. Apollo balances on one foot as if pushing forward. We believe that we are witnessing Daphne’s hands morph into branches.
We associate multiple images with film strips, comic strips, sequences of successive narrative events.
The illusion of motion differs from implied motion in that the sensation of actual motion is pursued.