Continuing to work with the materials that I used last year I have been drawing up several ideas that focus on the use of the simple shape and combination of materials. The main focus of these ideas for future work is to explore simplistic forms and material combinations that are interesting enough to evoke visual pleasure and sustainability of a sculpture as a piece of art, sustained by the work being enough in itself.
The use of the simplistic shape is important to understand. The use of a minimalistic shape is to remove any sense of relation of reflection of something that the viewer can relate to. Removing the form and figure from the shapes avoids the complication of the viewers experience, and removes the possibility for the work to be interpreted for more than it is in its simplicity.
But however, the shapes and material combinations need to be visually enough to hold themselves as a piece of sculpture. Providing enough familiarity to create an aesthetic piece, as the relation of the parts to each other, and the relation to the viewer are the two key elements that stimulate an opinion or reaction in the viewing.
Reading through Robert Morris’s 1931 Notes On Sculpture, he discusses the significance of shape and how the use of a simplistic shape can unify a piece of work much more effectively than complex shapes, in that there simplicity allows the separate and unified parts of a work to be unified. Also the sculptural elements of a piece, i.e. shape, scale and material, are more unified and the relations between these elements are easily understood.
Morris states that ‘Simplicity of shape does not necessarily equate to simplicity of experience’. Morris suggests that using simple shapes allows the viewer to visually understand an image or object. This simplicity presents the viewer with an object that they understand and gives them the opportunity to accept the shape as a whole, as they can immediately comprehend the shape. This also allows them to engage in the relationships between the parts and materials. Unitary forms do not reduce relationships.
