Gestalt: A unified physical or symbolic pattern that can only be understood as a whole and not by examining its parts.
Visual arts have borrowed this concept to suggest that images are perceived as unified wholes before they are perceived as parts. Humans have a need for wholeness which is so great that we assemble elements into as large of a unit as possible. For example, we see a row of dots as a line rather than a collection of individual marks.
In Gestalt psychology, responses are dependent on and serve the requirements of the whole mechanism. Lee Mothes’ 2014 entry, “Big Waves Live”, depicts a variety of intricate, separately weighted lines which illustrate the overall image of calm and chaotic waves.
Throughout various theories which emphasize that pattern-making is a primary element of perception and that the brain organizes parts of visual fields into “figures” and “grounds” (see previous ARTology post), a reliable psychological basis has been provided for spatial organization and graphic communication. All principles of Gestalt psychology deal with coherent factors, that is, the composition and logical unity of parts.
1. Proximity: What is closest together unites. Elements that are near one another join together to form figures against the ground.
2. Similarity: Visual elements that resemble each other in some way unite to form a homogeneous group. In this way, orientation of lines is the major factor in similarity grouping.
3. Continuity: Perceptual organization relates to movement in one continual direction.
4. Closure: Perception tends to close gaps and to make wholes, because the result is more visually stable. This achievement yields physical and psychological rewards. The fewer interruptions or discontinuities, the more likely closure will occur.
5. Equilibrium: Every visual field tends toward completeness just as every physical activity is directed toward achieving equity in opposing forces. It is the nature of the Chinese yin and yang. We are uncomfortable by anything perceived to be out of balance whether experienced physically or visually. The brain is attracted to figures that exhibit the fewest alternative modes of organization. It is a process of stereotyping or model-making.
“A Greenhouse for Life”, Julie Friedman’s 2014 entry, creates a paradigm of the plant forms that give life and make life beautiful. Being surrounded by this flat, silhouetted bold imagery takes the viewer into the realm of a known world that leads to a path toward the unknown and the newly created. There is an equilibrium of simple shapes that suggest a balance of organization which has come to be expected in a greenhouse.
6. Assimilation: The process by which a meaningful impression obtained by one or more of the senses is related to the vast file of past experiences and knowledge. Responsible for the relationship between the appearance of a visual form and a comparable response in human behavior. For example, the image of touching a burning hot stove disturbs some people because the consequences of that action are well understood. In this regard, empathy is a strong identification.
7. Irradiation: A perceptual mechanism that locates edges by comparing areas of contrast (light and dark).
Jean Allemeier Boot’s 2014 submission, “In the Exchange of Echoes”, shows how organic contours recede into space. The contrasting hues in the landscape are seemingly limitless, yet the repetition and placement of each appears deliberate and perfectly orchestrated.
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