ELEMENTAL SHAPES

The square. The circle. The sphere. All are what we call elemental shapes, or elemental building blocks. Yet the primacy of these shapes and forms is merely our cultural construct. We are attracted to these shapes given that they can be established with the fewest amount of lines. So our cultural thinking goes like this; if such a simple shape can be expressed with such few lines, the shape or form must be fundamental in some way.

Yet as we know, in the real world, these shapes are never thus. There is always a slight elongation of the circle to make an ellipse. The square really is not ever a square.  Therefore our direct observations of ellipses, for example, is in continued conflict with our tendency to think more simplistically.

Your understanding will always be shifting. Just as your shape will never be a cube, your understanding of your forms will never be as simple as you think. Just as we learned when we are data processing, there will always be a higher degree of complexity.

So don’t shut off your understanding at the simple. Don’t ever think it is simple.  Continue to process to understand your forms and enclosures. Be cognizant of the forces that are shaping your forms. Understand that imperfection increases the complexity. Revel in that complexity. Draw that complexity.