Tales of Recession

Since the 1400s we have understood how to compose a landscape which appears as one might look out a window. Jan Van Eyck was an early employer of this idea (see example 1).  And Since the 1400s we have understood that objects reduce their apparent over distance.  But, we needed more time to recognize that over distance objects also lose their color saturation, their edge acuity and, they tend to blur together.  J.M.W. Turner appreciated how our vision generated a blurred unity in the distance (see example 2). By the late 20^th century other criteria defining the relationship between near and far had been developed.  Almost 200 years of photography experiments as well as studies in perception and memory all contributed to the expanding criteria.

Vija Celmins, working in drypoint on small plates explored how pattern dissipated over space and, how we project a feeling of motion on to organized patterns (see example 3).  Celmins’ work enjoys  global  recognition.  Observe how Celmins’ edges and shapes subtly pitch in choruses of quiet motion which seem to find more stillness in the distance. Observe the shift of diminishing value intensities over the distance.

Example 1, Jan Van Eyck, drawing with silverpoint on panel.

Example 2.  J.M.W Turner, a later work from around 1840.

Example 3. Vija Celmins, 2^nd state drypoint.

In the later 19^th century Eugene Boudin uses progressively thinner horizontal bands to trigger a feeling of graduated space.  Notice his foreground beach area is thicker than the band of people which is thicker than the band of water (see example 4).

Example 4. Eugene Boudin, Beach.

About the same period (1872) J. F. Kensett applies a greatly exaggerated sense of scale to his image to create a feeling of space. The trees on the horizon are merely a pale thin horizontal shape. I will later borrow this idea. His textured information in the rocks and flora is pronounced versus the texture of the distant horizon information (example 5).

Example 5. J.F. Kensett at Contentment Island.

When I borrow historic distance inducing criteria and subtle motion/design principles as described above I discover how plastic my subject matter can be.  I find I can arrange and rearrange shapes without compromising the feeling of distance, the feeling of near/far.  I also see how my shape arrangements can be re-contoured and textured to suggest volume and a meandering sense of motion. My choice of surface and paint (brushed silver anodized aluminum and translucent pigments) further affect the image’s reflectance and the suggestion of motion.

Example 6.  Whispers of Light, oil, 24×24.

Example 7. Tide Matters, oil, 24×24.