In art school, we learn colour theory, but what about shape theory? How do geometric forms influence our perception of art? A presentation considering cubism, abstract expressionism, architecture and psychometric to shed some light on the question.

1. Geometric
Expressionism
In an art class, you may have be told that blue is a cool colour and that red
is warm. You may also have been told that blue and yellow are
complimentary. But what have you been told about the symbolism of shape
and its impact upon emotions? Furthermore, if you have been taught
perspective, have you also taught its limitations that isometric and oblique
compositions can perhaps remedy?
Geometric Expression is a manifesto of art that considers such issues.
Because it synthesises centuries of art theory across cultures and
disciplines, it provides opportunities to actively engage with that theory. Not
only does this result in a deeper form of learning the theory and art history,
if approached with passion, it will also result in the production of great art.

2. Art history study - Geometry
1. What is the affect of geometry on the emotions of the
audience?
2. How does the symbolism of shape communicate?
3. How do theories of 3d representation affect our
compositions?
We can’t be too prescriptive about what shape communicates,
which perhaps explains why it is rarely taught. While we can
say a colour is hot because of our prior associations with the
sun etc, the same justifications can’t be used so easily with
geometric form. We need to search in ourselves and in
collective expressions of others to infer meaning.

3. Topic 1. Emotional affect of
geometric forms

4. Pablo Picasso – Weeping woman
1937
What do you feel?

5. What I feel
 For me, when I look at the painting, I feel like I am looking at a
woman’s tears in an intellectual way. I feel I am studying the
woman, not feeling her pain. Ironically, this restrains emotion in
a way that makes me feel some emotional tension.

6. Picasso’s explanation
 Cubist theory – a mosaic of perspectives in a 2-dimensional
plane
“For me she's the weeping woman. For years I've painted her in
tortured forms, not through sadism, and not with pleasure,
either; just obeying a vision that forced itself on me. It was the
deep reality, not the superficial one... Dora, for me, was always
a weeping woman....And it's important, because women are
suffering machines.”

7. Kasmir Malevich – Black
Square 1915
 What do you feel?

8. What I feel
I have an intellectual response
 Emotion resides in colour. If colour is removed, emotion is lost
as well. Black is a mourning colour because emotions hurt.
 We sometimes refer to “squares” as people who follow rules
and who are not the most passionate people in life.
I have an emotional response
 I have a sense of wonderment and curiosity that comes from
mystery. I feel something that I can’t quite explain.

9. Malevich’s explanation
"Hence, to the Suprematist, the appropriate means of
representation is always the one which gives fullest possible
expression to feeling as such and which ignores the familiar
appearance of objects.
Objectivity, in itself, is meaningless to him; the concepts of the
conscious mind are worthless. Feeling is the determining
factor ... and thus art arrives at non objective representation at
Suprematism...Everything which determined the objective ideal
structure of life and of "art' ideas, concepts, and images all this
the artist has cast aside in order to heed pure feeling...
Suprematism is the rediscovery of pure art which, in the course
of time, had become obscured by the accumulation of "things."
In more simple language, by moving away from realistic objects
and context, Malevich aimed to facilitate a cognitive desert in
which the audience could create pure feeling that was
uncorrupted by socially constructed meaning.

10. Da Vinci – Vitruvian Man
 What do you feel?

11. What I feel
Intellectual response
 Enlightenment that comes from the symbiosis of different fields
of intellectual endeavour.
Emotional response
 Appreciation, completeness and respect.

12. Explanation of Vitruvian man
The drawing is based on the correlations of ideal human
proportions with geometry described by the ancient Roman
architect Vitruvius in Book III of his treatise De Architectura.
Vitruvius described the human figure as being the principal
source of proportion among the Classical orders of architecture.
Vitruvius determined that the ideal body should be eight heads
high. Leonardo's drawing is traditionally named in honor of the
architect.

13. Topic 2 - Symbolism of shape

14. Temple of Heaven
 What feelings does the circle, square and rectangles give?

15. Parthenon
 What is the feeling of the columns?

16. Federation Square

What are the feelings given by sharp angular lines?

17. Opera House or National
Gallery

Which one has more feeling for you? How would you describe
the differences in feeling?

18. Traditional theory
In design, circular shapes are associated with
tenderness, friendship, support, protection and
compassion. These connotations could be seen in
Beijing’s Temple of Heaven, which uses rectangular
shapes to symbolise earth, and circular shapes to
represent heaven. Vertical shapes and lines are used
to convey feelings of masculinity, strength, brutality
and domination. Examples could be found in
Greece’s Parthenon. Sharp angled lines are believed
to create feelings of energy, liveliness, violence,
explosiveness and anger. Examples could be
Melbourne’s Federation Square.

19. Do shapes affect us in a
universal or subjective way?
What is your favourite shape?

20. Psychogeometrics
With around 87% accuracy, psychogemetrics claims to
predict personality based on people’s favourites
shape.
 Circle personalities tend to be caring social worker
variety.
 Squares like rules.
 Rectangles are logical engineers that work in teams.
 Triangles are scientists.
 The squiggly lines are the right brain creatives, such
as artists or salesmen.

21. Brain scans
 Is the Dali painting perceived differently to the Picasso painting?

22. Research
 Japanese researchers were able to ascertain whether subjects
were looking at a cubist painting by Picasso or a fluid painting
by Dali by scans of their brains alone.
(Yamamura, Hiromi; Sawahata, Yasuhito; Yamamoto, Miyuki;
Kamitani, Yukiyasu, Neural art appraisal of painter: Dali or
Picasso? NeuroReport: 9 December 2009 - Volume 20 - Issue
18 - pp 1630-1633)

23. Topic 3. Illusions of 3d

24. Which is the correct way to
represent a cube?

25. One-point perspective
 Creates a focal point (there are 6
perspectives)

26. Limitations and benefits of
perspective
Limitations
 Following perspective means obeying rules.
 The position of the vanishing point determines how all shapes
look relative to each other.
 A vanishing point gives a painting a focal point that in turn gives
the painting a kind of value hierarchy.
Benefits
 Replicates how a composition would look in a photograph.

27. Isometric
 A pictorial representation of an object in which all three
dimensions are drawn at full scale rather than foreshortening
them.

28. Isometric makes optical
illusions possible
 Escher Waterfall

29. Isometric allows for composition
without focal points
Romance of the Three Kingdoms, China, c. 15th century.

30. Oblique
 One side of the object is drawn flat and the other sides at an
angle of 45 degrees, but instead of drawing the sides full size
they are only drawn with half the depth creating 'forced depth‘.
 Almost real but looks a bit weird.

31. Van Gogh Chair
 Somewhere between
two-point perspective
and isometric. The
wonkiness of tiles
and chair gives the
intrigue.

32. Review
1. Brain scans and our own responses indicate that shapes
influence emotional state.
2. Shape has symbolic power that has been used in psychology
and architecture.
3. There are multiple ways to represent the illusion of 3d.
Perspective representation reflects life with a focal point that
defines all other elements. Isometric allows for illusions and
different kinds of relationships.
Next slideshow: Geometric Expressionism; using geometry in our
paintings.

33. About author
 Chad Swanson is an Australian visual artist with an educational
background in both visual art and psychology. In 2009, he had
the solo exhibition, Meeting Van Gogh, in which he presented a
visual application of Geometric Expressionist theory using the
portraits of Vincent van Gogh as a subject.
 Twitter: @artofchad