Visual Perception and Artistic Form Principles

Visual Characteristics and Form Classes

Form is the union of the visual characteristics of objects by which we can differentiate them. These qualities include:

• Color
• Size
• Texture
• Configuration
• Location in real space

Key Definitions of Form

• Configuration: Each form has a number of lines that it encompasses and our eyes perceive. The configuration of a way is the peculiar characterization it presents before our eyes.
• Natural Forms: Those that are found in nature and have not been modified by man.
• Artificial Forms: Created by the artist for aesthetic enjoyment; these are based in reality or in the artist's creativity.
• Shapes: Based on mathematical and geometric principles. There are two types: two-dimensional and three-dimensional.
• Positive (+) and Negative (-) Forms: These are related to the figures and background, where the figure and background can be positive or negative, and vice versa.
• Concrete Forms: We recognize these easily because they belong to the real world.
• Abstract Forms: Created by artists and sometimes produced by a process of synthesis of natural and concrete forms.

Treatment of Form in Indigenous Cultures

• Aztecs: They created representations of their gods.
• Maya: They performed relief work for the decoration of interior and exterior walls of their buildings.
• Incas: They manufactured glass and ceramic vessels (vasijas) in a functional and utilitarian manner.
• Native Americans: They constructed buildings, palaces, temples, platforms, and other large structures. They used dimensional forms as repetitive motifs for decoration. They made many petroglyphs which constituted positive (+) and negative (-) forms. They also decorated their bodies with tattoos during special events such as wars, sacrifices, and ceremonies.

Visual Perception and Its Principles

• Visual Balance: Humans need a balanced relationship with the world around them. Our eyes establish a relationship with everything they see using a vertical line; almost always, the body stays perpendicular to the ground rather than obliquely.
• Enclosure: Even if a person does not want to, the eye tends to relate to objects or sets of forms that are proximal in space.
• Association and Proximity: The human eye relates to the set of lines that constitute the form and the related background within the space.
• Figure and Form: This is linked to the set of lines forming the shape and the background related to space.
• Reversible Figures: These are captured in such a way that they can also function as the background.