Pattern, Form, & Texture Series
As we view the environment around us, we tend to take in panoramic vistas, processing the images we see as a whole, rather than looking more closely at their individual elements. Even when we are inclined to look more closely at something specific, we tend to view it for the object that it is, rather than perceiving it on some transcendent level. Very much in the open, but perceptually hidden behind, within, and throughout, is a world of pattern, form, and texture; a world filled with subtle works of art that the everyday eye is not accustomed to truly see.
The natural world, as well as that made by humans, contain within them all of the attributes commonly referred to as the elements of art: form, shape, line, color, pattern, space and texture.
Patterns can be found all around us, and derive from of the repetition of objects, shapes, or colors. Though we tend to think of patterns as ordered elements, they are also present in random associations. To see them sometimes requires that the focus of the viewer be narrowed to a somewhat smaller field of view, which once obtained, opens a world of subtle relationships. To a keen observer, even everyday images can be the source of intriguing expressions of pattern.
In the world of art, form has two meanings. In the first, most concrete sense, form can be defined by physical presence of the three-dimensional object itself, sometimes referred to as positive space. The second sense is more subjective in that form is also defined by the environment in which it exists. This may involve a composite of several visual elements, such as color, shape, lighting or shadow, dimension, or its juxtaposition to other elements, or by the space around it (negative space.) An image can elicit variable senses of mystery or emotion in the viewer through different presentations of these elements.
An image can also come alive if a tactile sense of texture can be revealed. The object may have a clearly perceived visual texture, which the viewer can easily interpolate from the application of personal experience, or a sense of texture can be revealed through a conscious application of light, either by enhancing the highlights of the object, or plunging sections into shadow.
In this fast-paced world, it is all too easy to merely observe the surface and to become used to viewing the world from one increasingly static perspective and orientation. Once a person has grown comfortable with their view of the world, every object presents one fixed view; the object becomes so common it is no longer of any interest. Removing the common object from the context in which it most often appears, either through physical displacement, or a more subtle application of light, shadow, framing, or perspective leads the viewer into the realization that there are a multitude of ways to look at the world, and that new insights can be gained from the common object.
The images in this series attempt to re-introduce a balanced vision, restoring to us the beauty, form, pattern, and texture that are always present, but that we may not be attuned to perceive, and to open a dialog with the viewer, provoking a response and stimulating the creative side in each and every one of us.