Aesthetic abstractions

Based on my experience as sculptor, industrial design educator and researcher  I believe that aesthetic involvement in sense based abstractions enable us to manage complex situations and problem solving. This aesthetic involvement is rooted in  basic level experiences that can be shared over disciplines and cultures. Working with law bound principles of geometry in the below Evolution of form model offer an approach to develop and explore aesthetic abstractions of 3-D form. 

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Evolution of Form-model  above builds on a horizontal axis blending geometric      

organic structures and a vertical bipolar axis expressing contrasting  poles at        

each stage.

 

Horizontal axis

The 7 stages start with join at the left end and progress through increasing complexity ending in the organic stage at the right. The 7 stages are:

1.join—cutting away a part of one geometric volume to exactly fit with another geometric volume

2.intersection—the common mass within the joint of two geometric volumes, defined by the geometric properties of the surfaces of the joined forms

3.divide—cutting through geometric forms, creating two or more parts

4.adapt—fitting a compliant geometric form up against or around another form that is stable

5.merge—blending two or more geometric forms into a combined figure

6.distort—exposing a geometric form to forces that affect its inner structure and elemental parts

7.organic—beginning with formlessness (clay) and creating complex movements and tensions in the form expressed through convexities and concavities having no geometric reference.

 

(Three stages in this model are rooted in the work of Rowena Reed Kostellow & Alexander Kostellow.)

 

Bipolar spectrum

The bipolar spectrum moves vertically across the horizontal axis at each stage in the EoF-model. The spectrum introduces a positive and a negative pole that expand the practical and theoretical dimensions of this evolutionary model. This spectrum both supports and challenges the classic aesthetic aims of achieving beauty and expansion. It gives equal weight to activities that build up and break down the geometric structure.

The top half of the model represents the positive pole of the spectrum, which supports congruency with the original geometric structure. The terms accordance, assimilate, converge, and conform indicate support for the geometric structure or identity of the original forms. The bottom half of the spectrum represents the negative pole, which supports incongruence with the original geometric structure. The terms discordance, dissimilate, diverge, and deform are meant to disturb, take away and work against the geometric structure or identity of the original forms.