aging cracks, 2013, Paula Kovarik
I was working on a piece last night that I had always imagined in a horizontal format. In other words, I wanted the eye to read left to right across the surface in horizontal layers. But then I looked at the surface more obliquely (out of the corner of my eye and squinting) and I realized that doing that with the stitching added an element of calm, not dynamism, as I wanted.I may twist the piece 90 degrees to accomplish that and boy what a difference that makes!
So this morning I studied this photo from my walk yesterday to analyze how direction of line affects the interpretation of the elements. I twisted it around a bit to see what differences I could percieve. I think the image on the left looks hopeful and indicates growth (progressing left to right from dark to light) while the image on the right seems to portray deterioration and collapse.
Am I imagining this?
Here is another image of the same photo. This time I mirrored it (flipped it horizontally) So now what do I see? I see an effort of growth from chaos on the left. And on the right, growth that becomes complicated or corrupt. Is either side positive or completely negative? Not sure. It may be all in the eye of the beholder.