Exposure

I find it curious that the 1x1 scale seems less bound to the Rule Of Thirds than the more standard 2x3 scale. If anything, the 1x1 scale seems to draw into dead center, exactly the antithesis of the Rule of Thirds. Today’s work uses the same subject (although a different bloom) as my August 29 post, but changes the scale, and repositions the focal point from just right of center to (mostly) center. Stylistically they are virtually identical. But visually I have to agree that the previous 2x3 scale is more interesting. In each case, the eye goes straight to the bright red of the bloom. But in the 2x3 work, the eye has more to occupy it; there is greater context to the focal point and its environment. It feels more at home.

The 1x1 scale has become popular in social media for exactly the reason that there is no context – attention goes straight to the focal point. It is not indented as a visual experience, it is intended as a visual message. It is concerned less with art than with communication.

Perhaps context is what separates the two. Whereas communication moves in a straight line, art moves in a circle, or perhaps a wave, and in doing so broadens the message into a dialogue. The contrast of the two begs consideration of where a given work is exhibited publicly and the intent of the exhibitor in displaying it. Are they communicating or are they exposing? Or is an exposition simply another form of communication?

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Did I just correlate the title of a work to the ramblings I post to go along with it? An accident, I assure you – I’ll try not to let it happen again!