Friday, February 26, 1999

Art is an manipulation of elements

Art is an manipulation of elements such as in visual clues color, form, depth and movement, while using the elements to establish a design with some aspects of similarity, proximity, continuation, and common fate in order to compose an art piece. In other words, art could be interpreted and associated with Wertheimer's conclusion “The whole is different from the sum of its parts”. The stimulation before our eyes convey no meaning until our mind makes sense of of the sensory input. (goodreads, 2012), (DukeU, 2012)(biography.com, 2012)

The molecular or atomistic sphere shape objects floating around and into what appears to be mystical divinity figure or a Greek Goddess (an iconic sign) is what attracted me to this painting for analyzing. The form uses the fusion of the spheres (circles) and independent symmetrical circles to corporate shape and lines that create the features of the face and upper torso. Accordingly to our text, circles associates with endless rhythmic pattern of time and is a brain attention getter. The variant size dot-like spheres are either fused or evenly spaced developing horizontal and diagonal lines in and around the figure framing and developing the divinity figure. Accordingly to the gestalt law of similarity, “object that look similar will automatically grouped together by the brain”. Proximity of spheres is produce through the similarity and different size orbital spheres, while the fused, equally spaced spheres produces a line and depth formation. In the lower third of the painting, not only does the roll of equal size and spaced spheres reduced the sensation of depth, it also creates an imaginary line that outlines the upper torso of the figure.

The continuation of the strategic placed lines of spheres, colored streaks, and wavy lines produces a implies a spinning movement and provides energy to the painting. Spheres high-lighted with tints of soothing blues, cream, light yellow, browns, grays, and black gives dimension while the solid color of cream centralizes the figure in the painting. Dali uses shading of colors in spheres to produce facial features, hair, breast bone and imaginary tips of clothing. The perceived smooth texture is also provided through shading of color in the spheres. The sense of roughness or deterioration are created in only three orbital spheres on the right mid-outer spheres. White color separates the shades of blue color that differentiates the sky and water and also produces a horizontal line lower in the frame of the painting. The soothing color blue used in the sky produces a perception of a calming atmosphere while allowing the eyes to spend more time focusing on the warmer colors of the divine figure. (goodreads, 2012), (DukeU, 2012)(biography.com, 2012)

If you increase the contrast and the brightness, then you can see only the outlines of the face and hair, therefore, the painting becomes more of a sketch. The colors of the spheres, sky and water in the image will disappear and the lighter spheres become barely noticeable. If I eliminate the wavy lines and streaks than I eliminate the energy / movement that was created with the wavy lines and streaks. I will go further, if I change the space between all the spheres, that would totally distort the face and the whole unity of the painting. (goodreads, 2012), (DukeU, 2012)(biography.com, 2012)

I liked Salvador Dali quote “Drawing is the honesty of the art. There is no possibility of cheating: It is either good or bad. ” Since we live in a high technical society that multicultural, studying and analyzing individual elements of a picture provides a better understanding of the meaningful whole. Once one understands the theory, it makes you more aware of a better, noticeable design in print and screen media. What we see is only a stimulus to our brain, it is the mind that thinks with words. Word and images combine produce understanding and long-term recall. The stronger clarity of form the more effective the design. Roland Barthes describes individual elements within an image through a chain of association that makes up a picture's narrative which is through codes. (pg 59) (goodreads, 2012), (DukeU, 2012)(biography.com, 2012)