Designing Abstraction

Artist's Statement:

Jillian Wight

Medsker

2D Design

29 October 2020

I centered this piece around a few specific elements of art and principles of design. Specifically, line, value, shape, form, and variety. These ideas are certainly visually evident, especially as the viewer continues to stare at the piece. In fact, much of the value of my creation is its repetitiveness balanced with complexity, creating immense depth that makes more available to the eye the longer the viewer looks. I think that this makes the piece of art more than just entertainment or something pretty to look at, instead it is a visual experience, and hopefully a memorable one. The beauty of anything is in the eyes of the beholder, and I wanted the beholder of my piece to be captivated by the unique processes and concepts I used in my artwork. This project relates to me for a few reasons. First of all, I have always struggled with abstract art in the past. It is difficult for me to grasp the concept of illustrating something based on nothing (or based on something you can’t necessarily touch, feel, and examine). My focus on a few specific elements of art and principles of design made it easier for me to wrap my mind around abstract art and produce quality work that I am proud of. The piece also reflects me because it was developed in my personal style. I think it's easy to forget one’s style when faced with a specific and fairly rigid task, such as illustrating the elements of art. However, I did my best to incorporate the pattern, complexity, and detailed linework that can be found in all my pieces. I went with my instincts for the entire drawing, and I'm so happy with how it came out! I am proud that I was able to trust myself and produce a creation that I love.

I did not use very many materials to create this piece. Instead, the focus was mainly based on small details and variations in value. To start, I sketched a very basic idea for the project using a black fine point pen in the small grid square that was provided on a piece of white printer paper. I did not think that the idea would be anything special, and was aiming mostly to fill space. However, I ended up loving the result, and so I decided to turn it into a larger project. I used a piece of white multimedia paper, and drew a half-inch border using a soft graphite pencil and a ruler. I then traced this border in black, fine point pen and used an eraser to remove the pencil marks below. I proceeded to use the pencil to sketch an area which undulated across the page, as I was hoping to make this 3D almost as if it were a tube or tunnel. I then began drawing vertical lines spaced as evenly apart as I could with the fine point pen, avoiding the space I had sketched out. Once these were finished, I repeated the same process but horizontally. I then used my pencil to sketch how I would make the tube look 3D, and filled in the lines accordingly with my pen. Finally, I filled in the squares to my desire using the black pen, and erased any leftover pencil marks before photographing the final piece of artwork!

As stated earlier, I used a number of processes in order to include elements such as line, value, shape, form, and variety in my piece. In order to make line a prominent feature, I made the grid very tight and very fluid. I did not use a ruler, so the lines undulate slightly. In the middle, there is a section in which the lines dip drastically in order to create a 3D effect. I think this was successful, and overall my use of line created form and movement throughout the piece. Instead of a rigid grid, the piece appears to flow loosely in multiple directions. I also incorporated variety in value into my piece. Since the squares are so small, I think lines of varying quantities creates the illusion of a greyscale. I used these thin lines to create value, and made sure to differentiate the value of each square slightly from those surrounding it. Overall, I think the two most apparent elements of art in my drawing are variety and value. These two properties come together to create a repetitive pattern, which not only balances the overall composition but also contrasts with the complexity of each tiny square. Finally, shape is important for obvious reasons. The entire design is built of small squares, and I made sure that these squares stretched and compressed where necessary to show depth or protrusion. I also shaded the squares to highlight this. I think that the combination of shape and form are very important to the composition of my piece, because they create balance but also allow the viewer to find a bit of a focal point rather than being overwhelmed by the design. Overall, my project evolved from a very simple idea to a very complex and intricate reality that has depth and an effective, cohesive composition. I think my next steps could be to consider adding color in a manner that is not overpowering and adds to the value of the piece.

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