Balance & Imbalance Symmetry and Asymmetry

Size – As you would expect larger elements carry more weight Visual elements don’t have a physical weight. They do however, have visual weight. Size – As you would expect larger elements carry more weight Color – It’s not fully understood why, but some colors are perceived as weighing more than others. Red seems to be heaviest while yellow seems to be lightest. Density – Packing more elements into a given space, gives more weight to that space Value – A darker object will have more weight than a lighter object Whitespace – Positive space weighs more than negative space or background space

Symmetry

Symmetrical Balance Parthenon in Athens, Greece

Buddha Amoghasiddhi with Eight Bodhisattvas ca. 1200–1250
Tibet (Central regions)
Distemper on cloth 27 1/8 x 21 1/4 in.

The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, Tempera on gesso, pitch & mastic, 1495 – 98, Santa Maria delle Grazie, Milan

Face Mask (Kpeliye'e) 19th–mid-20th century Côte d'Ivoire Senufo Wood, horns, raffia fiber, cotton cloth, feather, metal, sacrificial material H. 30 1/4 in. Throughout the twentieth century, members of poro, a Senufo initiation association, wore small, finely carved face masks as insignia. Considered feminine, the masks honor deceased Senufo elders with their grace and beauty.

Contemporary totem Pole at Namgis Burial Ground in British Columbia, Canada Rattle 19th century Queen Charlotte Islands British Columbia Skittagetan or Haida Wood, pigment Overall: 3 x 8 in. 
 This rattle depicts a grinning mountain spirit, potentially that of a bear. The spirit would act as the intercessor for the human figure found between the ears. The rattle represents the relationship between the two and how the owner would depend on the spirit for strength and guidance.

Taj Mahal, masoleum, Agra, India, 1632 - 53

Little Faith by Jimmy Joe Roche, painted paper sculpture, 106 x 2 x 78” 2011 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yJ-XJObVaBU Deity is thought to reside in the making of an within final mandala

Prototype For New Understanding by Brian Jungen, Nike Shoe Sculpture, Brian Jungen “ I wanted to address commercialism and the fetishization of trainers & aboriginal art. I also wantead to address between the First & Third Worlds. There is a developing world within the First World on the First Nation reserves.” Prototype For New Understanding by Brian Jungen, Nike Shoe Sculpture, ranging in size from 2 x 2 to igloo-size, 2010

Brian Jungen

Brian Jungen

Artwork from Brian Jungen’s show at National Museum of the American Indian in DC, 2009 RIGHT: Blanket no.7 Professional Sports Jerseys, 69 x 53.5” 2008 LEFT: Collection of Prototype For New Understanding

Balance: Radial Symmetry

17th Century Reticella Lace Crochet Design

Namgyal monks completing a sand mandala, Cleveland, Ohio, museum. http://www.namgyal.org/ Traditional Tibetan tantric practice. --”acting as cultural ambassadors for the exiled personal monastery of His Holiness the Dalai Lama in Daramsala, India – monks of Mamjyal Monastery Institute of Buddhist Studies” share their work, dedication & designs across the globe – museums, yoga & meditation studios etc. Includes geometric & Buddhist spiritual symbols. Some mandala take days even weeks to complete. Composed of powered color. Upon dismantling, the dissemination is intended as a Tibetan blessing to all sentient beings. Namgyal monks completing a sand mandala, Cleveland, Ohio, museum.

Example of completed Sand Mandala Deity is thought to reside in the making of an within final mandala Example of completed Sand Mandala

Radial Symmetry Mandala of Jnanadakini Detail of the mandala Mandala of Jnanadakini late 14th century
Tibet (a Sakya monastery)
Distemper on cloth 33 1/4 x 28 7/8 in. This mandala is in the form of an extraordinary palace seen from above. It is presided over by a female Buddha, Jnanadakini, who is the feminine aspect of Jnanadaka, a fierce manifestation of the Buddha Vajrasattva. Jnanadakini has six arms and three heads and sits on a lion throne surrounded by the eight goddesses of her inner circle. Four female guardians are seated in the doorways of the palace's gates.

Basic Structure of the Mandala

Circle Limit IV, woodcut in black and ocre, 2 block prints 1960 by M. C. Escher

Asymmetrical Balance ecnalaB lacirtemmysA

Metamorphosis III by M. C. Escher woodcut, second state in red, green & reddish-brown, 1967-68

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VIII, 1923, Oil on canvas, 55 1/8 x 79 1/8 inches

Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, Saint Rémy, June 1889 Vincent Van Gogh, The Starry Night, Saint Rémy, June 1889. Oil on canvas, 29 x 36 1/4"

Andrew Wyeth, Christina’s World, 1948, Tempera on gessoed panel, 32 1/4 x 47 3/4" The woman crawling through the tawny grass was the artist's neighbor in Maine, who, crippled by polio, "was limited physically but by no means spiritually."

Wassily Kandinsky, Composition VII, 1913, Oil on canvas, (6' 6 3/4" x 9' 11 1/8”)

Mark di Suvero, Are Years What? (for Marianne Moore), 1967 Painted steel, 480 x 480 x 360 in

George Bellows Between Rounds, 1923
Lithograph
18 1/4 x 14 3/4 inches

Scott Hunt Donut 1999