The document outlines various operational techniques for transforming and manipulating objects and images in art, including magnification, minification, multiplication, substitution, reversals, fragmentation, partial delineation, distortion, disguising, metamorphosis, transmutation, simultaneity, soft focus, transference, collapsing volume, animation, progressive image breakdown, and positive/negative reversal. These techniques can be used to reconstruct objects on larger or smaller scales, repeat or change qualities of objects, reverse perspectives or functions, split or fragment aspects, depict progressive change, introduce hybridizations or alterations, present multiple views at once, obscure or deteriorate images, make objects appear flat or 3D, imbue inanimate objects with human qualities, and

1. TRANSFORMATION:
OPERATIONAL TECHNIQUES
Adapted from
Art Synectics
By: Nicholas Roukes

2. MAGNIFICATION
The reconstruction of an object on a much larger scale.
Spoonbridge and Cherry
Claes Oldenburg

3. MAGNIFICATION
The reconstruction of an object on a much larger scale.
Unknown Title
Tetsuya Ishida

4. MINIFICATION
Making an object appear smaller.
Warning Line Does Not Matter, No.
Wu Wei

5. MULTIPLICATION
Repeating images or forms within a composition.
Golconda
Reneé Magritte

6. SUBSTITUTION
Changing the original qualities of objects and surfaces.
Hiding in the City No. 86
Lu Bolin

7. SUBSTITUTION
Changing the original qualities of objects and surfaces.
Hiding in the City No. 86
Lu Bolin
(In case you missed it, artist Lu
Bolin camouflages
himself to disappear into his
surroundings)

8. REVERSALS
Reversing color, perspective, functions, size, or laws of nature.
The Madonna of Port Lligat
Salvador Dali

9. FRAGMENTATION
Splitting or fragmenting objects or images.
Galatea of the Spheres
Salvador Dali

10. PARTIAL DELINEATION
Presenting only a portion of the object in its finished state.
Slaves
Michaelangelo

11. DISTORTION
Changing an object or an image by deformation, distortion, or
progressive states of degradation: burned, dissolved, decomposed,
crushed, cracked, etc.
Soft Construction with Boiled Beans
Salvador Dali

12. DISGUISING
The use of latent or hidden images; obscuring the qualities of
an object by wrapping, masking, or camoflaging.
Wrapped Reichstag The Kiss
Christo and Jean Claude Renee Magritte

13. METAMORPHOSIS
Depicting an image in progressive states of change.
Reptiles
M.C. Escher

14. METAMORPHOSIS
Depicting an image in progressive states of change.
Mi Esposa Desnuda
M.C. Escher

15. TRANSMUTATION
A radical form of metamorphosis; creating Jekyll-and-Hyde
transformations, mutation, alterations, hybridizations,
re-materializatons
The Wounded Dear
Frida Kahlo

16. SIMULTANEITY
Presenting several views or time modes simultaneously.
I and the Village
Marc Chagall

17. SOFT FOCUS
Changing the focus on all or part of the image.
Abdullah’s Prayer
Maggie Taylor

18. TRANSFERENCE
The intrusion of an object or element into a space not
normally its own.
Le Temps Traversé
Reneé Magritte

19. TRANSFERENCE
The intrusion of an object or element into a space not
normally its own.
Woman Who Loves Fish
Maggie Taylor

20. COLLAPSING VOLUME
Rendering 3D objects to appear flat, (or reverse, flat objects
to appear 3D)
Drawing Hands
M.C. Escher

21. ANIMATION
Inanimate Objects can be made “to come to life”; subjects
can be given human qualities.
Some Roses and their Phantoms
Dorothea Tanning

22. ANIMATION
Inanimate Objects can be made “to come to life”; subjects
can be given human qualities.
L’Ange du Foyer
Max Ernst

23. PROGRESSIVE IMAGE BREAKDOWN
Subjecting an image to treatment that deteriorates, obscures,
or break down into simple shapes or patterns.
The Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory
Salvador Dali

24. POSITIVE NEGATIVE REVERSAL
Using the negative space to define an image.
Standing Woman
Alexander Archipenko

25. POSITIVE NEGATIVE REVERSAL
Using the negative space to define an image.
Untitled
Jerry Uelsmann