Reading Responses

How would the composition change if one or more lines were removed?
The composition would change if one or more lines were removed by making the intended meaning of the piece different. Removing lines can cause the viewer to see the picture in a different way as in their focus is shifted to another point or there is less depth to the picture. The composition could be put off balance or shifted in a certain direction if one or more lines were taken away.

What happens when you combine flat, solid shapes with gradated shapes? Or fuse negative and positive?
When you combine flat, solid shapes with gradated shapes there is an introduction of an illusion of space and a light source added to the picture. It gives the shapes a more three-dimensional feeling. When you fuse negative and positive there is a sense of emptiness and mystery of what is in the negative space or what shape is created.

What happens when you invert the values-that is, the black areas become white and the black areas become black?
Inverting the values causes the picture to have a new feeling as the shapes are the same but the colors are unnatural. It makes the viewer pay attention to the meaning of the picture a little more as they have to think about why the colors aren't in their usual tones.

Choose an artist's piece from the chapter that you liked and talk about the methods used.
Paul Smith's Action series is interesting to me because it's very unrealistic while using images of real things. It's making an everyday man seem to be a superhero which I also like. To create a better sense of the illusion of the man jumping from the buildings, the viewer is made to look up at the image in a lightbox on the ceiling as if he was actually above them. I like how what's happening is obviously not possible but is made to seem like it could be.