Fundamentals of Design by Mahmudul Hasan

Two of artworks that I saw on MET museum field trip are Terracotta Lekythos and Offering Bearer .  The Terracotta Lekythos is an ancient Greek vessel used for storing oil, often placed in tombs as offerings to the dead. It is made from terracotta, a type of fired clay that was widely used in Greek pottery. The artists shaped the vase on a potter’s wheel, then painted it with a fine slip that turned black when fired in a kiln under specific conditions. This process is part of the “black-figure” technique common in Greek pottery. This process involved painting the background black and leaving the figures in the natural red-orange color of the clay. In class, we’ve explored how art elements of design, this vase reflects the curved outlines of the decorative patterns around the neck and base create rhythm and movement of line .   Shape and plane  appear in how the flat painted figures are arranged on the rounded surfaces of the vase, giving the illusion of depth on a curved...

  Reflection of Artwork: Figure Ground is a principle in design and art where the main subjects is separated form its surroundings.  .  Contrasting colors  are a key tool for creating this relationship. Size, shape, and focus are also used to ensure the figure is clearly distinguishable from the ground.  The picture represents the idea of Figure Ground relationship.  The design is created by cutting shapes from a central blue square and then flipping them to the outside.  The relationship is further complicated by the four irregular, organic shapes cut out from the blue figure.  These cutouts create a secondary figure-ground, where the dark background color now appears as a figure within the blue shape, creating a sense of visual tension.  This creates a balanced composition where the positive space and the negative space  are equally important.  The shapes that are cut out from the blue square become the figure, while the remainin...