Unity, Balance, and Variety in Art and Design
Principles of Design: Unity, Balance, and Variety
Unity, balance, and variety are central principles of design that organize elements within an artwork.
Unity refers to the imposition of order and harmony on a design.
Most traditional paintings and sculptures emphasize order and harmony, which are often equated with beauty.
Some movements, such as Dada, were considered "anti-art" and specifically pushed against order and harmony.
Contemporary sculptors, performance artists, and conceptual artists may prioritize getting an idea across over traditional notions of harmony.
Variety is visual diversity that brings together different ideas, media, and elements into one composition to invigorate the design.
Balance refers to the distribution of elements, whether unified or varied, within a work of art to achieve a sense of visual equilibrium.
Unity and Balance in Specific Artworks
Agnes Martin, Friendship ():
This work exemplifies balance through radial symmetry.
It presents a perfect, simple grid where everything is balanced from the center outward in every direction.
While it has high unity and balance, it lacks variety.
Paul Klee, New Harmony ():
Uses a grid of squares to achieve unity.
Introduces variety through color shifts, playing with saturated hues, tones, shades, and tints of red and other colors.
El Anatsui, Sculptural Work:
Constructed from smashed and knitted old bottle caps.
The work is unified by the consistent material and color palette.
It lacks complete symmetry or significant variety but remains a unified piece.
Three Kinds of Unity
Compositional Unity: The result of organizing repetitions of shapes, colors, and patterns to create visual harmony.
Conceptual Unity: The cohesive expression of ideas within an artwork, even if the visual elements appear unorganized.
Gestalt Unity: A German term for "form" or "shape," referring to a state where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. It occurs when compositional and conceptual unity work together so perfectly that removing any element would destroy the integrity of the work.
Kerry James Marshall: Mastery and Unity
Pastimes ():
Marshall uses similar colors alongside a variety of shapes, patterns, and movement.
The composition is balanced: red areas at the bottom are balanced by red patterns at the top; blue birds and croquet balls unify scattered blue elements.
Diagonal, horizontal, and vertical lines, alongside musical notes, create movement and unity.
The Philosophy of Mastery:
Marshall observed a lack of "Black Old Masters" in the historical art narrative.
He sought to close the gap between his work and the "Old Masters" by understanding the systems and principles (e.g., Renaissance techniques) they used to construct pictures.
He views his paintings as platforms for ideas rather than mere self-expression.
Representation and Idealization: Marshall argues that if an artist cannot perceive value in their own image (e.g., Black women) or construct it as an ideal, it is a failure of imagination.
The Use of Color: In his figures, he avoids mixing black paint with any other color in the painting, making the blackness itself a pure, complex color that stands out from the ground.
Systematization: Using "paint-by-number" elements in his work represents a system that allows anyone to create art while acknowledging the arbitrariness and liberties taken within that system.
Compositional Unity Examples
Mark Rothko: Achieved unity through color fields, often making everything the same color to create a unified composition with minimal variety.
Katsushika Hokusai, The Great Wave off Kanagawa:
Uses repeating shapes and colors; the white caps of the waves mimic the snow on Mount Fuji.
The composition balances solids and voids (the curve of the wave vs. the deep trough below it).
Interior Design: Coordination of curved and straight lines, triangles, and rectangles can unify a living space through directional lines and flat areas of pattern.
The Messenger (Anonymous): An abstract sculpture appearing like internal organs or bones, unified through consistent material, texture, and color despite variations in form.
Antony Gormley: Often uses multiple casts of his own body in different directions; the repetition of the figure provides compositional unity.
Wire and Cacao: Conceptual sculptors using wood; unity is achieved through repetition, even when small variations (like a foot with six toes) are introduced to add life to the piece.
Conceptual Unity and Mark Dion
Conceptual unity refers to images and objects selected to conjure a single notion or idea.
Mark Dion:
Focuses on the representation of nature and the history of ideas.
Argues that science does not have a monopoly on the definition of nature.
Library for the Birds: A project inviting viewers to share space with living birds and literature, questioning human closeness to other living things.
Bureau of the Center of Study of Surrealism and its Legacy: Collects "orphan" museum objects that no longer fit standard mandates but generate strange readings.
Dion encourages viewers to be critical and careful, putting energy into the work to get more out of it.
Jimmie Durham and Social Narratives
Themes: Social unrest, civil action, and the history of being Native American.
Technique: His work often appears chaotic and lacks compositional unity or balance to reflect the trauma and social injustices experienced by marginalized people.
Materials: Uses salvaged wood, animal skulls (e.g., moose), car parts (hubcaps, steering wheels), and feathers combined with layers of paint to weave complex conceptual threads.
Gestalt Unity and Functional Objects
Relief Panels: Religious monuments use repeating figures and motifs to combine conceptual and compositional unity.
Gee's Bend Quilts:
Functional objects made by a group of women, often using denim from local factories.
They combine symmetry and asymmetry; the whole design creates a beauty that exceeds its individual fabric components.
Theaster Gates:
Weaves together materials, history, and aesthetics.
Archival Interests: He collects large sets of objects, such as the Dr. Wax record store ( to albums), the University of Chicago glass slides, and Jet Magazine ( unbound periodicals).
Monochrome Paintings: He binds and color-codes Jet Magazines by decade, transforming them into monochrome works of art that function as archives of the Black American experience.
Ken’s Hardware Store: Archiving the legacy of a small business to track "Black space" and the phenomenon of the everyday in changing neighborhoods.
Variety: Invigorating Design
Variety uses a multiplicity of textures, colors, and values to intensify a work's impact and give it a "jolt."
Joseph Cornell, The Hotel of Eden (): An assemblage of disparate discarded objects from New York streets collected in boxes to create unique narratives.
Robert Rauschenberg, Monogram:
A "combine" featuring a stuffed Angora goat, a rubber tire, a tennis ball, oil paint, and wood.
Focuses on blurring the lines between art and life rather than traditional beauty.
Bruce Nauman: Uses kinetic elements (water) and neon colors alongside casts of his own head to create visual interest through variation.
Romare Bearden, The Dove ():
A collage of printed paper, gouache, and pencil.
Uses varying scales (e.g., a hand as large as a face) and tones to reflect the improvisation of Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance.
Mary Evans, Baltimore Album Quilt (): Features unique hand-sewed motifs (floral, pottery, instruments) in every block, unified by the balanced grid structure.
Janice Balager: Contemporary ceramicist using a variety of matte-finished clay forms, sizes, and colors that speak to each other in large installations.
Symmetrical Balance
Symmetrical balance occurs when both halves of a work are identical or nearly identical.
Chinese Bronze Vessel ( BC): Features a hidden "monster mask" motif made of symmetrical shapes, possibly for communicating with gods.
Frida Kahlo, The Two Fridas ():
Painted after her divorce from Diego Rivera.
Depicts two versions of herself: one in traditional dress with a broken heart, and one in vibrant clothing with an intact heart.
Michael Richards, Portrait of the Artist as a Tuskegee Airman ():
Combines the iconography of Saint Sebastian with a self-portrait as a pilot.
The sculpture was tragically prophetic, as Richards died in the Twin Towers on .
Asymmetrical Balance
Asymmetrical balance uses different visual weights on each side to reach equilibrium.
Muqi, Six Persimmons: Balancing the visual heaviness of the right side by placing one persimmon lower on the left.
Adolf Gottlieb, Green Dream (): Balances a large white circle against a black scribble, using weight and transition without symmetry.
Thaddeus Mosley: Carves biomorphic structures from salvaged Pittsburgh wood using traditional tools like mallets and chisels.
Chris Burden, Flying Steamroller (/Contemporary): A ton steamroller balanced on a pivoting arm that lifts off the ground at high speeds, using physical counterbalancing to create an asymmetrical display.
Radial Balance and Spiritual Space
Radial balance occurs when elements are equidistant from a central point.
Mandalas: Diagrams of the universe used in meditation; often made of colored sand and destroyed after completion to symbolize impermanence.
Villa Rotonda (Andrea Palladio): Architecture featuring four identical facades equidistant from the center, allowing four views of the countryside.
Anila Quayyum Agha, Intersections:
Inspired by the Alhambra and the exclusion of women from mosques.
Uses a single watt bulb inside a laser-cut box to cast radial shadows across the room, making the viewer part of the artwork.
Rose Windows (Notre Dame Cathedral): Use stone "tracery" (ribs/bars) to support large sections of stained glass, allowing divine light to pour into Gothic cathedrals.
Hilma af Klint and the Future of Abstraction
Hilma af Klint ( – ):
A Swedish artist whose abstract work predates pioneers like Kandinsky and Mondrian.
Member of "The Five," a group of women who conducted seances to communicate with high spirits.
The Commission: In , a spirit commissioned her to create a message for humankind. Between and , she produced paintings.
The Ten Largest: Massive paintings representing the human lifespan from childhood to old age, utilizing symbolic colors (blue for female, yellow for male, pink for unity).
Spiral Motif: A recurring shape in her work; she even sketched plans for a spiral temple to house her paintings.
Legacy: She stipulated that her work not be shown for years after her death, believing her message was intended for a future audience that would understand it.