Wednesday 6.10.10

Lecture – Pictorial space, perspective & the illusion of depth

When we scan across the surface of an image, we are ‘reading’. Ways to create depth:

Colour

Warm colours project, cool colours recede. Purity and shade are also factors.

Light

In real life, we rely heavily on the effects of light to recognize objects, understand form and physically navigate our living environment.

Focus

The clarity and sharpness of an image make a difference. Sharp points come forward, blurred areas go back.

Figuration

Recognisable objects have their own spatial cues, so an artist can create a sense of depth by strategically placing an object on a surface. Photography is especially good to play with size and placement.

Scale

If objects vary in size, or change from real-life comparative sizes, we read the space differently. We see things as ‘closer’. If the artist plays with space, reading depth becomes complex. Ancient Egyptian art used hieratic scale, which is scale in terms of importance, eg. servants appearing smaller than masters

Overlap

When parts of an image overlap the covered part looks further away. When overlapped objects are out of proportion, the artist breaks the rules and makes us question the world.

Egyptian paintings rely on overlap to depict space, with image and script describing narrative effects. They also selectively mix front and side views, which may seem strange in western art, but they are just using this to give information, as well as their use of hieratic scale. The gradual dominance of classical Greece narrative meant that flattened Egyptian art was replaced with naturalistic, realistic, observational art as society became more secular.

Hellenistic art used overlap, and a mix of hieratic and rudimentary perspective. There was a sense of freedom and exploration that was not exclusive to the rich.

Western perspective was unified in C₁₄ or C₁₅ in Italy, during the Renaissance but was also evident in Hellenistic art.

I found this lecture informative and interesting, and it gave me a lot if information to use and research, one of the best lectures yet!