NFrisch - EX12 - Basic Elements: Color

This hanging light piece looks like two series of fluorescent or LED lights of different colors with canvas draped down both sides. The canvas gives a pleasant effect of smoothing out the colors emitted by each light and dispersing them much more than would be without it there. Since color can only exist with directional light, whether reflected or generated, it isn’t visible in plain, empty air, thus ways to disperse light across a surface improve its ability to be seen. The order of the colors in this piece are also interesting in their effect, having mostly warmer ones on the left and cooler ones on the right. However, whether or not deliberately created, the order of light colors directly follows the order in which they naturally occur in the color spectrum, starting with red, then amber/ yellow, green, blue, purple/UV (I’m not sure if the last color the designer used is a purple light or a black light.

NFrisch - EX12 - Basic Elements: Shape

This hanging light fixture is all about creating unusual and organic shapes through the curves of a single, long sheet of some kind of material. If for instance, the material used is sheet metal, it could be considered a kind of folding for structure. Starting with a single piece of sheet metal it was loosely folded back and forth to create an almost random-looking squiggle of an expression. Based on what Dondis says about shapes, if a circle represents enclosure and a triangle represents stress or tension, this piece as a whole could be holding stress inside – it’s almost like an abstract exclamation point with lights inside. Along the sides where each curve rests are the lights inside the “enclosure” created by a semi-circle. The lines connecting these (from the side) create rough triangles as the material weaves back and forth. I like how the designer used the essence of these two basic shapes to their advantage, and turned this piece into a display of light shapes, rather than just a way to dump light into a space.

NFrisch - EX12 - Basic Elements: Line

This picture of lights on a wall shows the visual power of the lines created by the design. Instead of the lighting fixture being designed with an interesting shape, the entire expression is communicated through the shapes created by the sequences of lines of light projecting out from each of the housings. Furthering this is the notion that each ray of light seen here is also made up of many lines radiating from one point, creating the visual appearance of a starburst. Similarly, if one were to view the patterns created by the light as a 3D representation, they might be able to see an array of wireframe cubes or a crystal lattice from the interior. Although lines are really one-dimensional things, having only a length but no width, these “lines” can be viewed as such in spite of their varying widths.

NFrisch - ex10 - Syntactical Guidelines

This image of a chair and its matching table was taken at New York Design Week 2011 - both are made of walnut, vertically laminated. Design aside, I like the composition of this photo; the structure of the way that space is used feels balanced, yet has enough contrast to keep my interest. Although there is no firm "levelness" to the image, nor is there suggestion of a flat horizon, all of the diagonal lines seem to compliment each other to form a suggested horizon. I also like the play between positive & negative demonstrated with the varying intensities of light and color tone. The brightest color here is in the foreground, the white platform on which the two pieces rest. The darkest and more subdued colors are those in the background: the pale green of the floor, the mottled grays of the concrete column, the dull gray of another exhibit behind everything else... However, the most prominent colors are the palette of oranges, browns, pale yellows and rusts that make the wood chair and table pop with such an organic glow. It's these colors, comparatively saturated over all of the others in the frame, along with the dynamic shadows and placement of objects on third lines that make this image enjoyable for me, as well as effective.

This image of two glass lanterns was taken at New York Design Week 2011 - both are similar in design, but slightly different sizes and colors. I wish that I could better see what these lanterns really look like. The primary definition they have over the background and other surroundings is brought by their sharpness and focus compared to the much softer and unfocused background. The object placement is very sloppy here, the pink/purple lantern is okay, but the gray/green one is almost totally hidden by the similar colors behind it, and is its presence weakened by what looks like a haphazardly placed broom stick right at its left edge. The overall light-dark balance is moderate, and the darkest things are the people in the background, whereas the lightest things are the wall behind them and the shining bulb inside the pink lantern. Perhaps if the photographer had used a long exposure to allow moving things in the background to move around a little, the resulting softer backdrop would have allowed the edges of the lanterns to pop out of the mess and truly show their beauty.

NFrisch - Meaning 1.3 Symbolism

Symbolism

'Om' is the Sanskrit symbol for the "universal sound." Since it is pulled directly from a written language that doesn't rely on pictograph-representations, like in Mayan or Egyptian written language, like a system of numbers it requires prior knowledge of its meaning to have any utility to its viewer. Though Sanskrit is an ancient language and not spoken or used often in developed countries, this specific symbol has developed a popular understanding of its superficial meaning. Many people will associate this symbol with those into alternative lifestyles and eastern knowledge. However, those who know its true meaning host a wealth of understanding on levels hardly implied. Comparing this level of visual representation to a more detailed one, it seems that the less explicitly visual information is communicated the more understanding is necessary to bring meaning to light and make sense of what is symbolized. In short, this symbol is essentially meaningless without prior knowledge of the context in which it's used.

NFrisch - Meaning 1.2 Abstraction

Abstraction

This symbol, widely known as a symbol for radioactive, actually is directly taken from the basic geometric design of a nuclear bomb, or an exothermic fission chain reaction. Although likely not known explicitly to the majority of the population, the three black pie sections around the perimeter represent a radioactive material (such as uranium or plutonium), the center black circle a single atom that will momentarily fuse with the outer pieces, and the yellow a high explosive that will kick start this reaction. The color yellow typically suggests "caution" as seen in yellow caution tape and in yellow traffic lights - suggesting that an abrupt stop is soon approaching. Although this is quite symbolic in nature, the essential elements of what it represents have been distilled and simplified into a form that require no artistic license, and can virtually be recreated by a machine and stamped out one after another.

NFrisch - Meaning 1.1

Representation

This is a technical illustration of mushroom, Psilocybe graveolens. This illustration is not meant to be artistic at all, however it is supposed to be clear and realistic enough to assist in identification of this specific species of fungi. The drawing presents three different versions of this mushroom, each with its own slightly unique posture. It is possible that each of these three instances represent various maturities of the mushroom through the life of its fruiting cycle. There is again, little personal interpretation of the visual information that is represented here, and it approaches the accuracy of a photograph, but has simplified the pertinent information by omitting unnecessary details that could easily be described in text, like colorings, size, texture, and others.

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