Shape Matters

An interesting thing happens when an artist pares their work down to its most basic elements: for instance, when color is reduced in intensity or to a monochrome, the form is revealed. We are fortunate that the paint has worn off Greek Sculptures. There are more recent examples of artists who did this: Brancusi, Mondrian, Irwin, Albers, and many more. Perhaps the minimalists overdid it, but someone needs to push the envelope, and even then something remains.

Every imaginable shape creates a peculiar aesthetic feeling. In sculpture the shape is immediately present from every point of view. There is only the shape and its attendant feeling. And aesthetic feeling matters.

2D Dialogue

Hey, I don't like that thing very much.

I thought that might happen.

There's nothing to it.

That's just about right. There not much there to distract from what's there.

You're not very defensive. Aren't artists usually more defensive?

Well, there's not much to defend. It's just a black shape.

Don't you know how to make something more interesting?

I think this is more interesting: "less is more", or something like that.

Yeah, and sometimes less is less.

Let's take a look. I've gotten rid of everything I can, until it's just a black shape in space.

Well, you pulled that off. It's about as flat and exciting as road-kill.

That's another thing I want to get rid of: excitement is like bringing a tambourine to a cello solo.

So what's the point? What is it?

It isn't anything else. The shape is the only point. Shape, by the way, matters, and every shape

creates its peculiar aesthetic feeling.

"Aesthetic feeling": is there a speech that goes with that?

No speech, but maybe some instructions. Just slow down, stop talking, and look: after awhile

you'll begin to realize that one shape feels different than another. You'll eventually notice how a

particular shape feels.

Like a happy face, all yellow and smiley!

Please, no. Happy faces are a different sort of thing.

I like happy faces better than your stuff. Your stuff is black, and doesn't look like anything, and it doesn't make me happy.

It's a different kind of feeling. There are no words for it.

I like words for what I feel: like glad, mad, sad, or sexy, which about covers my world.

The world is not an emoji.

Now you're sounding a little defensive.

And feeling a little nauseous too. Someone told once me that being an artist would not be easy.

Hey, there's a guy on TV who makes it look easy. You could learn from him.

That's another story. Goodbye for now.

A Note on 2D Sculpture

This is sculpture pared down to the bone: a single, free-standing, two-dimensional, abstract, organic, flat-black shape. One point-of-view shows everything. All the weight, complexity, color, and endless points-of-view of my three-dimensional works are absent.

Reduce to almost no depth, this two-dimensional form is nevertheless a different thing than a shape painted on canvas. It is still sculpture, an object standing on its own in space.

With something so simple, only the shape of the thing matters. Whatever aesthetic feeling arises, it comes in response to the shape alone. If it is beautiful, the beauty is in the shape alone.

This two-dimensional work is like laying down the weight of three dimensions, a lightness and simplicity worth experiencing.