Image Essay 7

This piece shows a figure/ground reversal. At first, the viewer may see the head of a man looking to the left with his hand on his shoulder. This image is very clear and appears to be the area of focus. However, there is another image in this piece that may be a little more difficult to see. If the viewer focuses on the man's ear, s/he may notice a woman wearing a long yellow dress. Also, there is a man with a long white beard that makes up the man's nose and mouth. If the viewer looks closely at the man's hand, he or she will actually see a dog laying on the ground. It is very difficult to go back and forth between these two images but it definitely keeps the viewer's attention on this piece.
This composition also demonstrates some principles of gestalt. The principle of containment is visible with the border around the piece which keeps the viewer's focus from going off the page. Closure can be seen when the images of the man, woman, and dog are combined to make the large image of the man. There is a repetition of the stones that make up the old man's upper body.

Brainstorming Lecture

The main theme of the lecture with Dan Graham was about all the aspects of brainstorming. When someone thinks of an original idea, that idea may seem very obvious to other people. Because it may seem too obvious to others, it is best if that person expands on that original idea to make it more complex and interesting. To make the idea or word more complex, the person should look that word up in the dictionary to find its various meanings. This approach will give an artist more ideas off of the one s/he originally had. In today’s class we did an exercise in which we took a piece of paper, folded it in half, and wrote a fairytale on one side. Then we looked at two colors, pastel green and pink, and wrote down words that described those colors on the other side of the paper. The descriptions could have been of a certain taste or smell that reminded you of those colors. Then we unfolded the paper and read the sentences that were made from the fairytale and the descriptive words. All of the sentences sounded very funny and made the story a lot more interesting. Then we got into groups of eight and made a short narrative using one sentence from each person. My sentence in the narrative was “He traveled to a castle with pink panties from Victoria’s Secret.” It was hilarious to hear all of the stories because they were such random ideas and included phrases that did not even make sense. The purpose of this exercise was to start from one idea and branch off and make it more interesting and original. After each group created a narrative, each person had to take their sentence and expand on that idea and turn it into a character. Each of us had to illustrate that character and then combine all the characters to make one big picture. After finishing this big illustration, Dan Graham made it clear that what we were doing was not art. What we were actually doing was brainstorming that could eventually be turned into a work of art.

Texture, Symmetry, and Gestalt

The symbol for this texture assignment is of a crown with an evil face and devil's pitchfork. It symbolizes the evil of greed. I used the soft texture of the flowers in opposition to the symbol's meaning and the coins to symbolize greed. The bottom of the crown is fire and the textures that are used reflect the aspects of flames. It looks very hot and smoky. To make the symbol stand out from the background, I decided to use black and dark gray shades for the symbol and textures with light and medium gray shades for the background. having the symbol very dark makes it pop out and not get lost in the chaos of the different textures in the background. The textures in the background still need some work because they look very block-ish and do not have a good flow yet for a viewer's eye to move around the composition.
The principles of gestalt that I am using are repetition and grouping. Some of the textures that are being repeated through out the composition are the coins, flowers, and leaves. The principle of grouping can be seen with the flowers. I cut out flowers and put them in the lower left hand corner where the water is. Also, I cut out coins and put them in the symbol. The viewer will be able to spot these images and group them to the textures they will find in the symbol and in the background. Grouping can be seen with the square images to the right of the crown as well. The square shape of the bricks can be grouped with the square shape of the pattern next to it.

Image Essay 6

This piece of art work shows many of the principles of gestalt. The principle of grouping can be seen with the shapes in this composition. The viewer makes connections with the circles, the swirls, and the square-shaped designs in the three corners of this piece. Also, a viewer can group the lines in the composition because they are all evenly spaced together and located at the bottom of the composition. The principle of containment is visible in this piece as well with the white border. This border helps the viewer stay on the page and keep looking instead of wandering off the page. Repetition is used with the curvilinear elements. Figure/ground reversal is visible with the white and black. The lines that go through the swirls change from white to black and vice versa as well as the swirls when they go through the border. The principle of proximity is visible with the separation of the lines. Continuity is present with the curvilinear connection between most of the elements in this composition. The viewer’s eye would move very well around this composition because of the fluidity of the swirls and circles and because of the manner in which these elements are arranged in this piece.