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See art in a
fresh way.
Art Tutorial
3 Visual Axioms: You've Got It If You Get It
Monet, Sunset
Titian, La Schiavona, 1510
As a teenager I traveled a bit and got
great pleasure going to art museums. I would quickly move from
one room to another, skimming all the paintings at a glance, until one caught my attention. Then, I would stop
to satisfy my curiosity or pleasure in that painting.
Only after I had my fill would I look
at the signature or the identification card. The painters were
names like: Manet, Rembrandt, Rubens, Michelangelo, da Vinci, Picasso, Titian, Van Gogh,
Monet.
I had a particular way of cataloging
my experiences with those artists--I sought out the common
"things" that drew me to them. There were stunning and
mysterious visual components that I wanted to understand.
In art school I had a wonderful mentor, Edgar Ewing, who
understood some of my quest. He showed me how spatial depth
worked. A turn in the lock "clicked" and I fully
grasped one of those components.
Continuing on my exploration of the
major painters, I saw that they had idiosyncrasies in their color choices, proportions, details, compositions,
and subjects. But, I discovered that there were a few components common to them.
They all had form, light, and space
in common.
Newberry, Still Life with
White Cup, 2000, oil on linen, 20 x 28 inches
Collection Bonnie and Robin Priest
Imagine how those visual elements help
us in real life. Our eyes, given the minimum amount
of light, can see forms, such as steps, and they can detect spatial
distances. Because of the universal nature of form, light, and
space we can safely negotiate
movement through an environment. They make our visual
perceptions real and meaningful to our well-being.
Form, light, and space are axiomatic
and symbiotic. In other words, you cannot create one without the
others.
Here, let me show you what I mean. Eliminating one of these axioms of visual perception
would effectively block us from seeing 3 dimensionality in the real or painted
world.
If there is no light, we cannot see
forms or space. We would see nothing except a black or gray
emptiness.
If there are no forms, we cannot
see the effects of the light or judge distance. We would see
something like a sky without clouds or shifting tones.
If there is no space, forms and
light morph into flat patterns.
Creating a 3-dimensional world
in a painting, like a window on the world, is not simple. There
are thousands of options and problems that an artist has to
chose and solve. It is
extremely easy for the artist to go astray by focusing too much on non-essentials.
So, check off your form, light, and space on your "to do" list,
and you will be in good company.
I hope you enjoyed seeing the
essence of axioms in a fresh way.
Michael Newberry
New York, May 8, 2007
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October '06 |
copyright 2012 by Michael Newberry |
