1.3.1: Unity and Variety
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- 256472
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Ultimately, a work of art is the strongest when it expresses an overall unity in composition and form, a visual sense that all the parts fit together; that the whole is greater than its parts. This same sense of unity is projected to encompass the idea and meaning of the work too. One of the ways unity is often created is through the use of repeated elements. This visual and conceptual unity is sublimated by the variety of elements and principles used to create it. We can think of this in terms of a musical orchestra and its conductor: directing many different instruments, sounds and feelings into a single comprehendible symphony of sound. This is where the objective functions of line, color, pattern, scale and all the other artistic elements and principles yield to a more subjective view of the entire work, and from that an appreciation of the aesthetics and meaning it resonates.
We can view Eva Isaksen’s work Orange Light below to see how unity and variety work together.
Isaksen makes use of nearly every element and principle including shallow space, a range of values, colors and textures, asymmetrical balance and different areas of emphasis. The unity of her composition stays strong by keeping the various parts in check against each other and the space they inhabit. One of the main features that is helping to hold this work together, that is, bring unity, is the use of texture and pattern throughout the whole work. No section is left as a simple, solid color or negative space to contrast the use of texture. Instead, several different kinds of texture shows the other half of principle, variety. Another factor creating unity in this image is the recurring use of organic shapes, such as the imperfect, fruit-like circles. In the end, the viewer is caught up in a mysterious world of organic forms that float across the surface like seeds being caught by a summer breeze.
A work filled with variety might also have unity. The World Womb Mandala is an excellent example. Unlike the Ming Dynasty Bronze statue of Buddha, where all of the bodhisattvas are more or less identical, the many bodhisattvas on the World Womb Mandala are each individualized. At a distance, they all become one, expressing great unity, but taken one at a time, each as an object of devotional contemplation, they contain more variety than it would at first appear.
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