Seeing Through The Obvious

"Flotilla"  Ink, pen, silver felt tip   2013

In his book " Form, Space & Vision", artist, critic and teacher Graham Collier, spoke about how surfaces have directional movement as they extend into space, whether angled, curvilinear, concave, convex, flat or ridged.

Rendition of Gravity Probe B around Earth  NASA

Referring to the dichotomy between space and form, Collier points out that, “in perception they and the space they shape are indivisible. Space is the matrix for form, and form is the matrix for space”.

"Seeing Through The Obvious"  Ink & wash   2013

He goes on to describe how our Western culture is interested in the concrete, not the invisible. We tend to look for figure without realising that the total image is as much space as it is figure. (*Collier, 1972)

*Collier, Graham. (1972) Form, Space & Vision

The above post was taken from "Space, Form and Emptiness: The Influence of Japanese Zen Rock Gardens on Eastern and Western Art" -  by R Allen-Sherwood  2011