Forms in fluctuation

UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
Thomas Francis Gilling (Creator)
Institution
The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
Advisor
Walter Barker

Abstract: The forms painted are intended to induce a fluctuation of form and space and color; an oscillation that has been suddenly arrested and is momentarily still. Although the elements (color, size, line, direction, depth, shape, and form) are calculated arrangements to one another, they are generalized and simplified in order to perpetuate the fluctuation (or oscillation) amid the lull of the painting. That is, all these elements appear to be caught in the height of change. They are both arriving and retreating, overstated and understated, they are marginal and, thus, ambiguous. It is, then, the explanation of the use of these elements about which this paper is written. The color of the forms is subdued by being mixed with grey. This is consistent with the unusual character of the form's shape and situation. A color, shape, and situation that is "unusual" because of the generalized motif and marginal situation. The colors do not conform to the convention of "cools" receding and "warms" approaching; but the colors do, by repetition, unite with the linear movement to construct the composition. Above all else, though, the colors are selected for their own sake- they originate out of no symbolic nor representational intent. They are manipulated to fit within boundaries of compositional structure, but the .vey to their character cannot be found entirely and simply through a descriptive analysis; for the origin of the colors is as circumstantial and intrinsic as the source of the forms.

Additional Information

Publication
Thesis
Language: English
Date: 1972

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