Pages 4-6: Artists Who Use Line

Next, we learned about the element of line in art, so our task in our book was to find three artists who use line in their work and write about their use of line. I chose Frank Stella, Sol Lewitt, and Christian Siriano.

Page 4:

Frank Stella:

“‘All I want anyone to get out of my paintings, and all I ever get out of them, is the fact that you can see the whole idea without any confusion… what you see is what you see’ – Frank Stella

After graduating from Princeton in 1958, Stella moved to New York City. He did not like abstract expressionism and preferred painting more realistically; objects in his paintings looked like they actually did, not just an expression of them. He was inspired by the work of Jasper Johns because it was just was it appeared to be. Stella’s first series, The Black Paintings, as shown above, were simply lines penciled on canvas and then the spaces filled in with black house paint. From 1967-1969, he worked on the Protractor Series, which are shown below, to the right. His work now included color (though this series was not the first of his to incorporate it) and curvilinear forms, which he had never before used. They referred to the protractor, which the series was titled by.

In one of the black paintings, line is used to create everything about it. It forms different shapes and gives an interesting dimension. Even though it’s on a flat canvas, the lines and the angles at which they meet make parts of it seem to pop off the page. They also create movements I find similar to an electric current or a circuit board. I’m not sure why it appears that way to me, maybe because the lines look like wires?

In the Protractor series, line is used to separate the colors and it creates interesting patterns in the way the bands of color overlap each other. It’s almost like one of those illusions where, because of overlapping lines, a picture of say, a building, can seem to look normal from far away, but then you notice something’s off upon closer inspection”

Page 5:

Sol Lewitt:

“‘I will refer to the kind of art in which i am involved as conceptual art. In conceptual art, the idea of concept is the most important aspect of the work.’ – Sol Lewitt, “Paragraphs on conceptual art”

Though at first Lewitt was associated with minimalism, he is now rederred to as the father of conceptual art where the idea behind the art is much more important than the finished product. Before moving on to art as a profession, he worked for the architect I M Pei, which greatly influenced his later work, and taught him a lot about geometry and precision. Many of his sculptures are very geometric and made of identical cubes, like the one in the bottom left corner.

In the three paintings in the upper half of this page, colored lines create a sort of “ordered chaos.” All of the lines are arranged generally the same way, moving in the same direction. They’re all very chaotic, being different colors and lengths, and there’s a lot going on, but the eye is able to follow a certain pattern in each one. The lines definitely create movement as well, as they make you follow the general direction they movie in. One of them uses almost straight, direct lines that go diagonally across the canvas and the other two have meandering lines that bend and curve at some points.

The sculpture at the bottom of the page uses lines to create a series of identical cubes that form a much bigger structure. They seem to also create a tone gradient when looked at head on, which is a cool effect. The painting right here (bottom right corner) called lines to points on a grid, also uses line in “ordered chaos” because at first it may look like random lines, but then you notice how they’re all connected to points in different places on the wall.”

Page 6:

Christian Siriano:

“‘I’m kind of fierce and I’m kind of a celebrity… in my own head.’ – Christian Siriano, Project Runway

After winning project runway, season 4, Siriano has designed a collection that is shown at fashion week for each season. Each one of his designs, in my opinion, are works of art and all of them are executed flawlessly.

Here are a few pieces of his that show line. For the two in the middle, strips of color create a gradient from light green to grey to dark grey. The lines certainly have a diagonally downward slanting direction and create, especially in the bottom dress, a dramatic shape.

The dress on the left side of the page uses lines to make a woven, v-shaped pattern in the dress. The lines created by the ruching in the brown dress in the upper right corner seem to all slant toward a point not on the model. Also, the ruffles in the black coat create an hourglass shape.

It is interesting to see how line is used in fashion and clothes to create a slimming effect. Diagonal lines, as opposed to horizontal lines definitely do the trick. In the brown dress, the ruching draws the eye to the model’s smallest part, the waist, as does the v-shaped woven pattern in the beige dress (notice how it stops after the waist). Of course, the black coat has the most obvious effect by placing an hourglass shape, which is ideal, in ruffles right in front.”