Balance & ImbalanceSymmetry and Asymmetry

Visual Weight in Design ElementsThe major difference in design balance and physical balance is that your visual elements don’t have a physical weight. They do however, have visual weight.

Some things that affect visual weight:

Size – As you would expect larger elements carry more weight

Color – It’s not fully understood why, but some colors are perceived as weighing more

than others. Red seems to be heaviest while yellow seems to be lightest.

Density – Packing more elements into a given space, gives more weight to that space

Value – A darker object will have more weight than a lighter object

Whitespace – Positive space weighs more than negative space or whitespace

Symmetry Symmetry

Symmetry Symmetry

Symmetrical Balance

Parthenon in Athens, Greece

Buddha Amoghasiddhi with Eight Bodhisattvas ca. 1200–1250Tibet (Central regions)Distemper on cloth27 1/8 x 21 1/4 in.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, Tempera on gesso, pitch & mastic, 1495 – 98, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Face Mask (Kpeliye'e)19th–mid-20th centuryCôte d'IvoireSenufo Wood, horns, raffia fiber, cotton cloth, feather, metal, sacrificial materialH. 30 1/4 in.

Throughout the twentieth century, members of poro, a Senufo initiation association, wore small, finely carved face masks as insignia. Considered feminine, the masks honor deceased Senufo elders with their grace and beauty.

Rattle19th centuryQueen Charlotte IslandsBritish ColumbiaSkittagetan or Haida Wood, pigment Overall: 3 x 8 in. This rattle depicts a grinning mountain spirit, potentially that of a bear. The spirit would act as the intercessor for the human figure found between the ears. The rattle represents the relationship between the two and how the owner would depend on the spirit for strength and guidance.

Contemporary totem Pole at Namgis Burial Ground in British Columbia, Canada

Taj Mahal, masoleum, Agra, India, 1632 - 53

Little Faith by Jimmy Joe Roche, painted paper sculpture, 106 x 2 x 78” 2011

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ-XJObVaBU

Prototype For New Understanding by Brian Jungen, Nike Shoe Sculpture, ranging in size from 2 x 2 to igloo-size, 2010

Brian Jungen

Brian Jungen

Artwork from Brian Jungen’s show at National Museum of the American Indian in DC, 2009RIGHT: Blanket no.7 Professional Sports Jerseys, 69 x 53.5” 2008LEFT: Collection of Prototype For New Understanding

Balance: Radial Symmetry

17th Century Reticella Lace Crochet Design

Namgyal monks completing a sand mandala, Cleveland, Ohio, museum.

Example of completed Sand Mandala

Radial Symmetry

Mandala of Jnanadakini late 14th centuryTibet (a Sakya monastery)Distemper on cloth33 1/4 x 28 7/8 in.

Detail of the mandala

This mandala is in the form of an extraordinary palace seen from above. It is presided over by a female Buddha, Jnanadakini, who is the feminine aspect of Jnanadaka, a fierce manifestation of the Buddha Vajrasattva. Jnanadakini has six arms and three heads and sits on a lion throne surrounded by the eight goddesses of her inner circle. Four female guardians are seated in the doorways of the palace's gates.

Basic Structure of the Mandala

Circle Limit IV, woodcut in black and ocre, 2 block prints 1960 by M. C. Escher

Asymmetrical Balance

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Metamorphosis III by M. C. Escher woodcut, second state in red, green & reddish-brown, 1967-68

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923, Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 inches

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, Saint Rémy, June 1889. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/4"

The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist's neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, "was limited physically but by no means spiritually."

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s World, 1948, Tempera on gessoed panel, 32 1/4 x 47 3/4"

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913, Oil on canvas, (6' 6 3/4" x 9' 11 1/8”)

Mark di Suvero, Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore), 1967Painted steel, 480 x 480 x 360 in

George BellowsBetween Rounds, 1923Lithograph18 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches

Scott HuntDonut1999

Imbalance?

Spiderman Series by Michael Burmeister, oil on canvas, 2008

(a)Symmetrical Digital Collage Project

Digital collages by Florian Kuhlmann

http://wim101.blogspot.com/2011/07/digital-collages-by-florian-kuhlmann.html

Bernhard Hildebrandt

http://www.salavon.com/work/Mandala/image/188/Modern Lifestyle Mandala (Lingerie #1) 2002Digital C-prints.28.25" x 47.75". 5 + 2 APs.Common goods arranged in complex radial formations. Inspired by the Buddhist mandala and shopping.

http://www.salavon.com/work/color-wheel/image/409/

Fred Tomaselli, Dead Eyed Bird Blast, 1997. Hemp leaves, pills, photo collage, acrylic, and resin on wood panel. 60" x 60”

Metal Destroyer, 2004. Mixed media, resin on wood. 72" x 72"

FRED TOMASELLI, Hang Over, 2005, Leaves, pills, acrylic, resin on wood panel, 84 X 120 inches

Fred Tomaselli

Fred Tomaselli, Detail

Fred Tomaselli

Pamela Sunstrum

Pamela Sunstrum