Pictorial Space throughout Art History: Cézanne and ... - ARAS
Pictorial Space throughout Art History: Cézanne and ... - ARAS
Pictorial Space throughout Art History: Cézanne and ... - ARAS
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<strong>ARAS</strong> Connections Issue 2, 2012<br />
After an hour or two your eye will tire <strong>and</strong> you will become insensitive to<br />
the plastic effect. You may get lost in decorative effects. Set the canvas aside <strong>and</strong><br />
come back to it later. Be prepared to struggle for hours. In order to satisfy new<br />
proportional dem<strong>and</strong>s you must repeatedly sacrifice already hard-won<br />
proportions. Your aim is to control the spatial tension between the two rectangles<br />
so that both seem integrated with the flat canvas <strong>and</strong> with each other. If you<br />
succeed the canvas will be alive: the flat surface will be activated by the spatial<br />
effect.<br />
Then try to add a third rectangle. Again you must remain fluid, repeatedly<br />
sacrificing some of what you have already achieved. The third rectangle must add<br />
further to the spatial effect. Any addition which weakens the plasticity is a<br />
mistake <strong>and</strong> must be removed: there can be no detours through disproportionate<br />
or spatially confused intermediate forms. This criterion may enable you to find a<br />
way forward. Without it you will get lost in a tangle of distractions.<br />
If you succeed in adding a third rectangle then you have a plastic<br />
composition. Start again with a new, equally small canvas <strong>and</strong> try to achieve a<br />
second composition. If you wrestle with it long enough it too may become its own<br />
original universe, different from the first. To get to this point is an unusual<br />
accomplishment. Then you can try to add another rectangle, remembering always<br />
that nothing can be added unless it increases the plastic strength of the<br />
composition.<br />
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