Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Formal Elements:
Color
Compliments of Red and Orange and Compliments of Blue and
Green
o The red and orange contrast the blue and green
o There is a balance of colors
o Red fades into the background
o But this does not mean that the blues stand out, because
they are kept in sequence to the outline/border
o Orange does stand out like the way gold does when placed
behind a black background, but even that is balanced out by
the reds and blues
o Were the colors intended to be the way they are rn?
o PRIMARY COLORS, just in different tones
o ^create a harmonious color palette
o Colors within the plants contrast each other in a harmonious
manner
o Bleed into each other, not physically, but through the use of
contrast, your eyes easily move along the head > body >
flowers. This is subtle movement is due to line.
Line
Oranges are like a guide, starting with the eye
The eye demands to be to be looked at
o Almost when you make awkward eye contact with someone
across the room
That is where there is the deepest contrast
Very dark blue/black and all the colors used.
o And if we just happen to first wander our eyes at the
flowering trees, they direct us upward to the dragons head in
an instance!
o Almost like a cycle effect
Overlapping lines also help in that they make the dragon 3dimensional
o The head protrudes way out of the border
You might not be able to walk around the object, but it surely takes
time to run your eyes around the entire piece and look at all the
details
o You may start with BLAH BLAH BLAH where I said, but even
that alone, you need to look at the head, then the body, then
flower 1, then flower 2, then after doing a double take and
realize the serpent has a neck
And with each section mentioned, there are subsections
of lines and patterns that make the piece interesting all
around
^ Go more in depth
the serpents head is pretty large and perhaps is the reason we also
first
Composition
Tight, so much going on in patterns to due the border, the detail in
patterns and lines, and closeness of those patterns and lines- also
lack of negative space within the piece
Proportion
Trees are small, serpent is big, and the head is HUGE,
Its small, but we can get lost in the painting, especially if we are so
close to it, looking at tall the details, we begin to picture the
serpent to be big
Texture
Looks smooth all around except for around the head.
o ^both in material and use of other elements. < go in detail
Head looks rough due to manipulation of color, and
heavy lines
o The paint is smoth even though there is a lot of patterning
and use of lines everywhere, there is still a smooth look to
them
Conclusion!
How do they work together?
More attention paid to the head
How did the artist convey this image or work?
What makes this work visually significant and distinct?
Is there anything that becomes apparent after looking at the object
over time that was not immediately apparent?