OSKAR SCHLEMMER

Oskar Schlemmer was a German artist and choreographer, working right before WW II.  He taught at the Bauhaus, and is known for his acclaimed work, The Triadic Ballet.  (The music was by Hindemith!).  I believe that Oskar Schlemmer was a transparent thinker and drawer.

A central focus of his work was the relationship between a human and the surrounding space.  His performers became kinetic geometries who then explored how the body is represented.  Thru movement, and thus time, a performer existed within the realms of geometry and the physical mechanics of choreography.  In this way, the gap between abstraction and representation was bridged.  Gropius applies the term “moving architecture” to Schlemmer’s choreography.  

The Bauhaus conception of the union of art and technology was in perfect alignment with Schlemmer’s purpose.  With unlimited curiosity, form and space were explored:  pure objectivity was the sole criteria for evaluation.  The possibility for movement is just as important as the actual movement.  

“The laws of cubical space are the invisible linear network of planimetric and stereometric relationships.”  Schlemmer.  

These themes are exhibited in this drawing by Schlemmer.  The human, and their relationship to the external media, is depicted.   The physical laws of a human, as well as the potentials for human spatial interface, has become graphic.

You must think transparently if you want to discard representation and abstraction.    

1.  Gropius, Walter, Ed.  The Theater of the Bauhaus.  Wesleyan University Press,  Middletown, CT.  1961.

 

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I selected my drawing at the top of the page as it has choreographic resonance. The two Source Images are categorized as Light Between. Instead of overlaying the base geometry, I put one above the other for a Form Combine. The resultant geometric nodes became the spring points for my Form Generation.