HW3

Art in America, December 2013. Page 85

In today's blog, I look for some of the Gestalt psychology aspects of unity in this painting above.  As most of you probably know from last week's reading, there are six aspects in the Gestalt psychology interpretation of unity, which are grouping, containment, repetition, proximity, continuity, and closure. So which of these aspects of unity are present in this composition?

Before I answer that question, let me tell you where I found this.  I stumbled upon this paining in a December 2013 copy of the "Art in America" magazine.  Unlike most of the compositions that were parts of an article, I found this off of an advertisement for an art fair that occurred in May of 2014. What got my attention was the fact that it had one of the most noticeable aspect among Gestalt psychology, repetition.  Simple as it may seem compared to the other compositions, this one had quite a bit of aspects to it.  Of course I also chose it simply for the different color arrangement of the letters and background.  Despite the fact that the letter L appears to be missing on the uppermost "BLAH", it is there.  To me, the different colors represent something that is barely noticeable with the darker colors to something that is more clear with the brighter colors.

To answer the question of how many of the unity aspects are noticeable, I see repetition, proximity, continuity, and possibly containment.  Repetition can be seen with the word "Blah" while proximity is prevalent with the close distance between the words.  Continuity might be more difficult to notice but for me, it's seen in the background of the lower two Blahs.  Unlike the top, the background for the bottom two softly shifts between a light blue to a darker bluish grey. The background for the top two in contrast have a more fine division between dark and light color.

Finally to end it off, there is containment.  I save this one for last because I am uncertain as to whether this can be considered containment or not.  For me what acts as a containment for this piece is the uneven black line that surrounds the subjects.  You won't be able to see it much at the top, but it is definitely seen at bottom.  You can feel free to agree and disagree.

Do you notice any other aspects besides the ones I mentioned?

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