Robison Quarter 2 Independent Reading: Asymmetry in Art

"Asymmetry is the rhythmic expression of functional design."

Jan Tschichold

Asymmetry is the lack of symmetry.

When artists create, I have noticed that asymmetry is an element that is often avoided, seen as unappealing and undesirable to have in their pieces. In our day and age, ideals often lie within the opposite: symmetry. People often strive for this because of it's relation to beauty, so much so that symmetry has even become a standard to beauty. However, reading Stewart's text, Abstract Art, her writing completely challenges this ideal. She claims that in compositions, elements don't have to be of equal weight, that balance and harmony can still be made while maintaining a beautiful piece (Stewart 61). Given this new perspective brought to surface about asymmetry, Stewart impacted my activity today immensely, changing the entire direction I took on my piece. First of all, before starting to paint, the change I initially made was to stray away from my original plan to apply symmetry, the ideal element I thought my piece should contain. Instead, I decided to apply asymmetry - a direct result of Stewart's writing. Taking on this new idea, I pictured in mind an entirely different layout of my piece than what I pictured initially. This new layout was more vibrant, mysterious, and overall a more fulfilling piece. It was her writing that had opened my mind up to two new concepts, that symmetry is not always a necessary element in art and that a piece can be just as good without it. These two new concepts learned have redefined my piece, leading me to apply the newfound layout that I thought out when I later began the process of making it. Once I finished painting, I can definitely say that executing this new layout added levels of dimension and interest that I otherwise wouldn't have. Stewart's writing continues to open my mind to a broader and different range of art elements, and in today's activity, asymmetry is one of them.

Furthermore, moving on to the actual construction of my piece, Stewart's writing continued to impact it's direction as well. Before starting to paint, I initially planned to have the focal point in the center. Placing it here seemed like the most attractive location and I have always strayed towards symmetry. However, after considering Stewart's insight on asymmetry, I decided to read on about methods you can use to achieve this. Stewart suggests that one way to add asymmetry to a piece is to "try varying the main element of your composition", which you can do by "placing it off center, in the upper third, or lower third" (Stewart 61). With this in mind, I started off by painting the outline of a face - the focus - making sure it was asymmetrical by using the center as a guideline of where I should avoid painting. The off-centered placement had allowed me to split the piece into two sides, which I made great use of. With my piece now divided, I could now dedicate each side to a different color palette. The left was vibrant and bright while right was dark and mysterious. It is thanks to Stewart's suggestions on asymmetry that I was able to make this unique division of space that played a major role in how my piece turned out. Most of all, however, Stewart's writing had impacted my piece by making it one that stands out with the different color palettes that I was enabled to use in following her tip. You can see the result in the pictures below.