SHAPE FORM SPACE

Principles of shape, form and space

SHAPE

• Implies a flat image • Representations which have shape but not

form are two dimensional• Silhouettes, shadows and reflections are flat –

have shape but no form• The outline of an image or object gives it it’s

shape• Shape is the outline of an image or object

These silhouetted figures and baby pram are completely flat. They have shape but not form. Some feeling of space is suggested, one figure is smaller and higher up the page than the other figure and appears to be further away.

These iconic shapes represent objects in the known world. In the case of the ship, sunglasses, palm tree, tent and camera several flat, 2-Dimensional shapes have been used to create the appearance of form or 3-Dimensionality.

In this image the positive space, the black key, shapes the negative space so that a white cityscape appears. The fore-grounded key shapes the back-ground to create a second image.

The image of a person riding a bicycle is created by the outside shape of the missing piece of the sculpture. We see the empty space as a very clear image of a bicyclist because of the space which is occupied by the piece of the sculpture which is present in contrast to the empty bicyclist shaped space.

The space between these two hedges is given shape by outline of the form which each hedge takes.

FORM and SPACE

• Objects and figures which have body or three dimensionality, are said to have form

• Forms are shaped by the space they occupy• Forms are shaped and sized according to

their ability to fill space with their material dimensions

• Objects and figures which have form occupy space in the world

• Space is lost when a form takes up that space

• Space is shaped by the bodies which occupy it

This two-part Andy Goldsworthy sculpture is an example of form and space. The egg form on the left appears to be the perfect opposite

In this sculpture and the one following by Levi Van Veluw the three dimensionality and form of these heads is made tangible by the use of glowing bands and strips which follow the contour of the mannequin heads.

In this and the next two images the artists play with the nature of hair, which has a fluid and changeable way of occupying space. In the first two it is given a more fixed form by it’s being laid over solid forms.

In this magnificent bouffe the space above the model’s head is inhabited by the form her hair is used to create and yet space lives within this form because it is not solid but made up individual hairs.

Sayaka Ganz’s plastic cutlery sculpture takes up a dog-shaped space when seen in it’s entirety but also occupies spoon and ladle shaped spaces and contains spaces within it. It is not a solid form but one which suggests at wholeness and solidity.

Alexander Calder created moving or kinetic sculptures. As this hanging piece moves through the air it occupies pieces of space that are ever changing as it’s form is constantly changing . It’s movement through space implies an potential occupation of a space which transcends it’s form at any one time.

This image shows the recreation of a piece by Andy Goldsworthy.

The forms created in this series and the next series of images are created by the movement and grouping of separate objects in space. These forms are unpredictable and impermanent. The bundle of sticks seen silhouetted and static in these images speak also of shape without form.

This upper row of stills of this piece by Andy Goldsworthy shows the movement from formless space to form filled space and back to formlessness and open space again. And the opposite in the lower row.

In these two images we can see how pavement chalk artist Julian Beever has created the illusion of space, depth and form with his understanding of perspective and tone and shadow.

Julian Beever plays with concepts of space and depth.

In this drawing Kathe Kollwitz uses the flat black shape around the figure to create the impression of depth or space and gives the figure form through her delicate use of line and tone.

These weird and joyful hand-shaped hand soaps take the form of baby dolly hands. Grouped as they are they create a marvellous haphazard space around themselves.

These hands by August Rodin occupy space but also contain space (held between them).

This incredible wicker piece shapes the space it holds within it and the space that is held outside of it. The form of the piece informs the space within and outside of the piece in a material way. It is as though space is given body in this installation.

Tara Donovan’s work plays with concepts of space being shaped by form. She creates pieces with occupy space in such a way as to make the space around a piece take on a form itself. Space in the piece becomes as ‘tangible’ as the form of the piece.

In this installation Tara Donovan uses separate objects, plastic cups, to create the appearance of a solid form, but the form can be easily altered by the removal or addition of piles of cups. This piece moves from it’s base, the gallery floor, vertically and horizontally into the space.

This sculptural form is placed very centrally to the space in this image. The form acts upon the space by taking up the space it sits in and by shaping the space around it.

I wanted to end on an image I really love. This factual jelly representation of St. Paul’s Cathedral in Rome is by artists Bompas & Parr. I like the thought of them constructing the mould in which the jelly was formed, creating the space which was then filled with this jelly. They used the negative space to create the positive space!