Task 15: Visual Composition.

Composition is big. People spend ages trying to get their heads around it, don't they? Its that kind of masters thing, where you dedicate yourself to it for years in order to understand every intricate mathematical equation and then apply it to your work successfully. Its one of those areas where art merges with science (one of many areas) but in such a way that the layman sees only majesty. "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.", don't they say? "They" being Arthur Clarke. In the task brief it states that "Our industry partners tell us repeatedly that they are looking for artists, not technicians". That's something I'd be very interested in discussing, actually. I mean, this post is about composition, right? Composition, at its finest, is invisible. The people will look at the beautiful painting and it will make sense to them. Everything will relate to everything else on the canvas and it will seem like a snapshot into something otherworldly, something perfect. Composition, along with colour theory and a plethora of other sciences, will allow this illusion of the ethereal. For something to feel fundamentally "correct" as a piece of art, it must feel effortless. We, the viewers, will see art in its truest and purest form. The artist sees a product of meticulous planning, research and understanding. I believe that artists are technicians, and that hiding the technical framework that underpins all good art is the biggest science of all. The idea that there is something more to a successful artist than someone with great technical skill and understanding I believe almost cheapens their work. Talent is a myth and with it the idea of the gifted person, the prodigy, removes the extraordinary amount of effort and dedication required that is required to achieve what these people can achieve. Now, this isn't the place for a discussion involving the soul and consciousness (maybe in another post perhaps?) and I do not believe a robot could create art. But great art only comes from the learned mind. 

Warfare by Otto Dix

Composition is the placement of the elements of the piece, the spacial relationship of the visual entities. Through good composition, an artist can lead the viewers eye in various ways, pacing the visual experience of a piece (for example, a composition that encourages fast eye movements and incorporates strong contrasting elements to overwhelm the viewer, as in Otto Dix's "Warfare"). It can also draw our attention away from less significant areas of the piece and focus us on the more important ones. Note again how with Dix's "Warfare" there are several elements competing for the focus of the eye. This disrupts us and confuses us, and as we stuggle to pick apart the scene we are enveloped in a claustrophobic environment where there is little visual rest. The true difficulty in composition comes with leading the viewers eye -without he or she knowing-. It would be easy enough for us to find the intended elements of a scene if they were the only ones in focus, but that sort of practice holds our hands too tightly. Composition creates an obstacle course (or leisurely walk) that we must choose to navigate ourselves, or the viewer's brains will quickly feel pressured or bored. In the above piece, we are first drawn to the top central painting, and there the confusion and unrest throws us to both the left and the right, where our eyes can focus more clearly. The saturation of the piece fades out as we leave that middle section behind, but the spiraling placement of the elements there forces us back in. It is just little stimulation enough for us to push back into the chaos of the central piece, but not so much stimulation that we get overtired by the painting as a whole. Balance, with all composition, is key. The contrast in that central piece leads the eye downwards where the painting is at its most saturated, finally landing us in the bottom-most piece, its curvature bouncing us back up again until we find our own way out. Entire stories, settings and scenarios can be communicated through composition alone.




http://reflectionsandcontemplations.files.wordpress.com/2010/10/otto_dix_war_triptych1.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarke%27s_three_laws
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composition_%28visual_arts%29
http://willkempartschool.com/the-secret-of-good-composition/
http://design.tutsplus.com/articles/5-fundamental-skills-every-artist-should-master--psd-28054