Repetition
Read this text which discusses the dual role repetition plays in art: artists use it to organize and plan the artistic elements and to create interest or command attention.
Repetition is using two or more elements
or forms within a composition. The systematic arrangement of repeated
shapes or forms creates a pattern.
Patterns create rhythm, the lyric or syncopated
visual effect that helps carry the viewer, and the artist's idea,
throughout the work. A simple but stunning visual pattern, created in this photograph of an orchard by Jim Wilson for the New York Times,
combines color, shape, and direction into a rhythmic flow from left to
right. Setting the composition on a diagonal increases the feeling
of movement and drama.
The traditional art of Australian aboriginal culture uses repetition
and pattern almost exclusively as decoration and to give symbolic
meaning to images. The coolamon, or carrying vessel pictured
below, is made of tree bark and painted with
stylized patterns of colored dots indicating paths, landscapes, or
animals. You can see how fairly simple patterns create rhythmic
undulations across the surface of the work. The design of this
particular piece indicates it was probably made for ceremonial
use.
Australian aboriginal softwood coolamon with acrylic paint design
Rhythmic cadences take complex visual forms when subordinated by
others. Elements of line and shape coalesce into a formal matrix that
supports the leaping salmon in Alfredo Arreguin's Malila Diptych.
Abstract arches and spirals of water reverberate
in the scales, eyes, and gills of the fish. Arreguin creates two
rhythmic beats here, that of the water flowing downstream to the left
and the fish gracefully jumping against it on their way upstream.
Alfredo Arreguin, Malila Diptych, 2003. Washington State Arts Commission
The textile medium is well suited to incorporate patterns into art. The warp and weft of the yarns create natural patterns that are manipulated through
position, color, and size by the weaver. The Tlingit culture of coastal
British Columbia produces spectacular ceremonial blankets
distinguished by graphic patterns and rhythms in stylized animal forms
separated by a hierarchy of geometric shapes. The symmetry and high
contrast of the design are stunning in their effect.
Saylor Academy Knowledge Check
Source: Christopher Gildow, http://opencourselibrary.org/art-100-art-appreciation/
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.