Sculpture
Formal
and Technical Qualities: According to the textbook by Sporre, in sculptures composition involves the same elements and principles as in the stucture of two-dimensional art. These include "line, form, color, mass, texture, repetition, balance, unity, and focal areas" (Sporre pg.72). However, the use of these elements and principles by sculptors are very different because they create three- dimensional artwork.
Composition
Elements
As the author describes, the concepts of line and form are closely related in sculptures. For instance, the lines in a sculpture reveals a specific form, then the form draws the spectator’s interest because of its intricate nature.While viewing a sculpture, the elements direct the spectator’s eyes from one point to another, allowing one to appreciate every single angle. Examples of sculptures where the viewer's eyes jump from one element to another are the classical figure statues with complex lines and forms. As the textbook further defines, some sculptures have an open form, which are works that direct the spectator's eye through the piece of art and then off into space. On the contrary, if the sculpture directs the viewer's eye continually back and forth into the form, then the form of the work is said to be closed. There are sculptures that have negative or positive space, which are openings by holes and these characteristics have an important role in the overall composition. For instance, "in some works negative space is inconsequential and in others it is significant" (Sporre pg.73). The left image shows elaborate lines and forms and the right image shows interesting space.
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Sporre continues to explain that in sculptures color is extremely important to the sculptor, even though it doesn’t seem important to spectators when they think of a work. Commonly, viewers "tend to see ancient sculpture as white and modern sculpture as natural wood or rusty iron" (Sporre pg. 73), but in reality there is a meaning behind each color. This entails that only because spectators see a sculpture in a certain color they cannot instantly guess which period the work is from because they can be mistaken. There are cases where the material itself is chosen because of its color, and others where the sculptor selects a material that can be painted over. Sculptures may also depend on color for their effect and materials can be chosen or treated so that nature will provide the final color using the process of oxidation or weathering. For instance, the sculptor chooses to create a work with a medium colored material, but knows that throughout time the color will become darker and is part of the completed sculpture.
The chapter carries on describing that sculptures have literal mass, obviously take up three-dimensional space, and are made of materials with varied density. Meaning that works can be created with materials of light or heavy mass weighing from several pounds to hundreds of tons. Another main element of sculptures is texture, the roughness or smoothness of a surface as part of the tangible characteristics of it. Texture can be perceived through the sense of touch, but if spectators can’t touch a work then they can perceive and respond to it physically and suggestedly. Interestingly, sometimes sculptures are so powerful that eventhough spectators cannot touch them they are mentally taken to the moment and time that the work represents. Therefore, "sculptors go to great lengths to achieve the texture they desire" (Sporre pg. 73) and their technical mastery manifests in the ability to transform the surface of their work. Thus, the texture in a sculpture is meant to transmit a message by the artist to the spectators, whether striking or subtle. The image on the left is an example of a heavy wood sculpture and the image on the right an example of a smoothly surfaced work.
www.digitalwallpaper.com www.chrisdixonstudios.comPrinciples
As the textbook explains one important principle in sculptures is proportion, or the relationship of shapes in a work. Spectators notice a seemingly sense of balance in sculptures as well as a sense of proportion, which shows that each form in the work exists in proper relationship to the others. An interesting fact is that the ideal of relationships in sculptures have varied and evolved from civilizations to civilizations. For instance, a "proportioned entity, such as the human body has varied greatly in its proportions as sculptors over the centuries have depicted it" (Sporre pg. 74). The main reason proportions have differed from cultures to cultures is because new perspectives and observations develop.Thus, the differences in proportions helps transmit the message the sculptor wants to communicate about the subject matter. For example, a small part in a sculpture is not a bold detail, but a big part in a work is usually an important statement. www.marescatcsally.blogspot.com
www.silverqueengallery.com Other Factors
Articulation
Further ,the chapter discusses that while viewing a sculpture it is important to notice the manner by which we move from one element to another. This manner of movement is known as articulation as applied to sculptures, but can be compared to that of the human speech. Articulation is compared to human speech because speech includes a step by step procedure where each element correlates with another.Thus, "the nature of a work depends on how the sculptor harmonized, repeated, varied, and related its parts" (Sporre pg. 74). It also depends on how the sculptor articulated the movement from one area to another, indicating where a viewer stops and then begins appreciating the sculpture.
Focal Area (Emphasis)
The texbook follows on explaining that sculptors must concern themselves to draw the spectator’s eyes to the central areas of their work that they want to communicate. This task may be complicated because they are dealing with three dimensions and have little control of the first direction from which the viewer perceives the work. "The devices of convergence of encirclement, color, and line" (Sporre pg. 76) help sculptors determine how the viewer proceeds to scan the sculpture to focus ultimately on the area suggesting the eyes. Another device available is movement or kinesthesis, where sculptors have the option of placing moving objects in their work. Moving objects immediately becomes a focal point in a mobile sculpture and presents many ephemeral patterns of focus as it turns at the whim of the breezes. Usually movemnet or moving sculptures bring an interesting twist to the spectator because it creates a sense of action and involment.
Found
Last but not least, Sporre described that the category of found implies that natural objects, whether shaped by human hand or not, take on characteristics that stimulate aesthetic response. These sculptures "become objets d’art because the sculpture chooses to take them from their original surroundings and show them to spectators as means for aesthetic communication" (Sporre pg. 77).
And not because the sculptor puts them together, even though the artist may combine found objects to create an artwork. Basically, the sculptor decides that an object says something aesthetically and proceeds to present it in that manner. Some people have concerns about the found sculptures because they may remove skills from the artistic process. Therefore, objects like driftwood and interesting rocks can perhaps assume an unwarranted place as art products or objects. However, if a ‘found’ object is altered in any way to produce a sculpture, the product can be eventually termed an artwork to the fullest sense.
Bibliography:
Sporre, Dennis J. Reality Through The Arts. London: Pearson Education, 2013.
