Art 104: Balance and Tension

The realm of 3D design, form and sculpture, has been an area I have always wanted to explore.  Visually, it is not something I have been trained to analyze, break down, and understand.  Translating the 2D principles of line, positive and negative space, color and composition to the third dimension is not as easy or straight forward as it appears.  All good reasons to enroll in Art 104, 3D Design.

Our first project was to create a form comprised of geometric objects (rectilinear forms) that conveyed a sense of both balance and tension.  Our choice of materials was some sort of sturdy paper or board (matte board, chip board, poster board, ect.).  Color within the material was optional, only to be used only as a complement to the form.

It was a rather simple assignment... and those are often most confounding.  Sketching was where I started with this project, but it ultimately didn't inform my process as much as just building a study model with crude figures.  I settled on a form that I felt was rather organic in nature, comprised of a long narrow, central form (a stick or stem) with triangular forms radiating around it (leaves or flowers).  The tension and balance was easy to create, just in trying to arrange the triangles around the spine and getting the structure to stand.  The endless process of adding and subtracting, trial and error.

 

Here are all the elements made of chip board, taped along the central spine to figure out the best arrangement of the parts.

Somewhere at this stage a concept came to me... I began to see a larger meaning in this piece.  It is so mysterious how that happens!  I had probably been listening to too much NPR, and dwelling on this terrible oil spill in the gulf.  Color, a little acrylic paint, brought purpose to this sculpture.

The 'red stick', la baton rouge, representing Louisiana, my home.  And the blue triangles, water, coated and covered in oil.  Sticking and dripping, pulling down the red stick.  But also, it could be perceived that the water and oil are holding the red stick up, supporting it.  That is the contradiction of this tragedy... as much as we (Louisianians) would like to criminalize the oil industry it is also our blood and lifeline, a primary source of income for our community.

 

Concept is not something we've really been talking about in class.  Right now we are exploring form and for the sake of art and composition.  I was the only person in the class that had alot of thought or symbolism in the project.  We're not there yet in the class, and I jumped there because at LSU if it wasn't about something, then what was the point?  

I can just hear Frank, looking at a pile of geometric forms, saying 'So what?'.  And I can't help but make it about something.