Wednesday, 09/08/10: thoughts on dots, squares and cardboard things

So, on my last blog Kathy asked me to explain my parents impressions of my work were.. to be honest, I'm really not completely sure.  My dad looked at it for about 5 seconds and walked off.  My mom pointed out which ones stood out to her.  Neither of of them have much of a background in art, so I really don't expect them to know or really care much about the concepts behind what would look like to most people as just a bunch of dots on a page.

In class we had to come up 15 sketches for examples of "periodic" and "playful" compositions.  From what I remember, periodic is orderly, while playful is chaotic.  Being a bit on the OCD side, I think I have tendencies towards making more periodic compositions.  I think creating some sort of pattern or order comes more naturally to me than just placing things randomly.

my 30 sketches

top 4 playful and periodic

Now, as for why I chose them:

Playful:

-top left: This one gives me the feeling of falling apart.  Probably because I used proximity, the pieces that are closer together seem more related, or in this case more as one.  Using different angles for the squares also helped me capute the feeling of chaos.

-top right: I like how strange this compostion feels becuase of the ridiculously large square that takes up most of the composition.  I think the difference in size in squares makes this one kinda fun.

-bottom left: I was a little unsure about picking this one.  I personally really like it, but it could almost be periodic because of the way the squares seem to fall one behind the other.  I think having the squares at different angles helps give it a more chaotic feeling though.

-bottom right:  I have a feeling many other people would not have picked this one.  Negative space can be very underrated.  I feel like the very tiny squares can be just as exciting as the very large squares, just.. in a different way I guess.



Periodic:

-top left: I like the flow this one has, mostly because of the use of continuance, I can see the squares kinda swim off the page.

-top right:  I like the continuing argyle-esque pattern this one seems to make.  I think I have a thing for using continuance.

-bottom left: More continuance, closure too possibly..?  I like the shape it makes, despite that it's a curved organic shape, the squares make it look very digital, pixelated.

-bottom right:  I just like the simplicity, I think it communicates the idea of periodic very well without saying much.

As for my 3-D project.. it's coming.  I had some difficulty with finding a way to connect the top piece, I think I've got it now though.  The problem with my object is that it's so different on every side, trying to make the cardboard replica match up to it becomes somewhat of a challenge.