Speaker A
In this video, I'm going to be talking about how you do an artwork formal analysis. This is a method that you can use when you're looking at artwork to figure out what your thoughts are about it, why you think it's interesting or not.
Learn how to perform a formal analysis of sculpture artwork using elements of art, principles of design, and personal interpretation.
Key Takeaways
- Formal analysis involves four key sections: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.
- Elements of art (color, shape, line, form, space) are foundational to describing artwork.
- Principles of design (scale, emphasis, unity, contrast) help analyze what makes art interesting.
- Interpretation connects the artwork’s visual elements to possible meanings and artistic intent.
- Personal judgment assesses the artwork’s effectiveness and appeal based on individual response.
Summary
- The video explains the method of formal analysis for artwork, focusing on description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment.
- Uses Alexander Calder's Flamingo sculpture in Chicago as a case study for the analysis.
- Describes the sculpture’s physical attributes including color, shape, line, form, and use of negative space.
- Analyzes the sculpture through principles of design such as scale, emphasis, contrast, and unity.
- Interprets the meaning of the sculpture, discussing minimalism and how the artwork relates to its urban environment.
- Judges the sculpture’s appeal, noting strengths like curved lines and weaknesses like bulky triangles.
- Encourages viewers to apply the same structured thinking when analyzing other artworks.
- Emphasizes the importance of well-thought-out explanations with at least three sentences per section.
- Highlights how elements of art support principles of design in creating interesting artwork.
- Discusses how personal interpretation and judgment play roles in understanding and evaluating art.
Chapters
- 00:00Introduction to Formal Analysis
- 00:48Example Artwork Overview
- 01:39Description of the Sculpture
- 02:25Elements of Art in the Sculpture
- 03:58Principles of Design Analysis
- 04:41Emphasis and Unity in Design
- 05:28Interpretation of Meaning
- 07:16Judgment and Personal Response
- 08:37Conclusion and Encouragement
Full Transcript — Download SRT & Markdown
Speaker A
And even dig into the meaning of the art based on what you see using the elements of art, the principles of design, and your own judgment and interpretation. These are the questions that we're going to be answering as part of our formal analysis.
Speaker A
So, as you can see, there's four sections: description, analysis, interpretation, and judgment. To get full credit on this summative assignment that you're going to be doing, you'll need to make sure that you're answering each of these sections with at least three sentences.
Speaker A
Or more. As you're doing there, like your explanations, you should make sure that they make sense and that they're well thought out. So, to show you how this is done, I'm going to be using an example of work. This is a public art piece. It's
Speaker A
located in Chicago and is called the Flamingo by an artist by the name of Alexander Calder. This is a sculpture that has been around for quite a long time, and it's pretty familiar to people that live in Chicago, and it's just a
Speaker A
really popular piece. You can see it's very large. It takes up an entire square between some buildings, and it's very much so durable. This has been sitting out here for decades. So, the first thing we're going to talk about is a
Speaker A
description. Her description: we're gonna describe the work, we're gonna see what it looks like, talk about what type of sculpture it is, and then we're going to make sure that we talk about the elements of art and how they're seen.
Speaker A
So, when I'm looking at this artwork, it appears to be made out of metal. I can see that because of the rivets that are between the pieces and just thinking about what material could be used to actually hold up against the elements of
Speaker A
being outdoors. It's very large, it's red, it stands out up against all the buildings that are a dull color. So now I'm gonna just pinpoint out some elements of art. So, the first one that we'll talk about is something called
Speaker A
color. And I mentioned color already. We talked about this being red and it being something that the artist chose to do. The entire thing is the same color. It's all this red that's really bright. What we see as different values within the
Speaker A
color is simply because of how lighting is hitting it. I'd also want to talk about how shape is being used within the different sections of the sculpture. The artist chose to work with a variety of geometric shapes and some organic lines
Speaker A
that are kind of going along the edges of the sculpture. So certainly line could be another one that I talked about. As I was just mentioning, it's very easy to kind of flow from one element of art to
Speaker A
the next as we're looking at one of these artworks. So again, color, shape, line. I'd want to talk about those three, but certainly you could make the case for a lot of other elements of art. For example, anything that's three-dimensional like a
Speaker A
sculpture is going to be form, and this definitely takes up three-dimensional space. I could talk about space and how there's all these sections that you can see through in the sculpture that are negative space, and that plays a pretty
Speaker A
big role, especially with that negative space that people can walk through underneath the sculpture. So that fits into the description part of our formal analysis. Next one is going to be where we actually analyze the art using something called the
Speaker A
principles of design. So, all of the elements of art build into the principles of design as to what makes an artwork interesting. So, when I'm looking at the sculpture, I could talk about quite a few of the principles of design.
Speaker A
The first one I'm going to talk about is scale. Scale is when you're making something that's really, really large or really, really small compared to things that are around it. So, in this case, I probably talked about how the sculpture
Speaker A
is massive. You can see the size of the people that are right up next to it and how the sculpture really does take up a lot of space. It's very large, it's very impressive in that way. Maybe I'd want to talk about how the
Speaker A
sculpture really stands out up against the background. There's some emphasis going on. Through contrast, the red really stands out up against the dull, drab colors of the buildings around. Maybe I'd want to talk a little bit about one of the other principles of
Speaker A
design called unity. Unity is all about having something that's very similar, and in this case, the color brings unity to the entire artwork because it's all the same red. And you could look at the principles of design as you're looking
Speaker A
at an artwork and determine which one is most important to you because all of our eyes work differently and they may see something a little bit different. As long as you can explain it really well, your answer could work for you. You just need
Speaker A
to be able to back it up with the elements of art. Next, I'm going to talk about the interpretation. So, I'm gonna explain the meaning with how I'm seeing it and try to pinpoint some things that are, you know, standing out to me in the
Speaker A
sculpture as to why I think it means a certain thing. [Music] So, looking at the artwork, it's called Flamingo. I know that from reading the title of the artwork. So, in terms of what the artist had meant it to mean, it's
Speaker A
probably trying to represent the shape of the flamingo as it's leaning down to eat something. Knowing the name of it helped out a little bit with what the meaning might be, but I also am looking at this artwork and realizing it doesn't
Speaker A
necessarily look like a flamingo. There are some—no, the color is red. It really stands out, maybe like a flamingo pink would stand out, but besides that, there aren't a lot of things within the sculpture that really do look like a
Speaker A
flamingo. So, I think that it's trying to show how minimalism can be used. Minimalism is an idea where you take out as much as possible from an artwork and you're just focusing in on the shape and the form and the color and the line and
Speaker A
how those can create something that holds interest. So, perhaps minimalism is where the artist was headed with this one. I think that to just putting something in the middle of the city where all of these buildings are just straight up and down
Speaker A
and they’re very—they look like they're standing upright and they're very strong, whereas this sculpture, we know it's pretty strong, but it doesn't really hold the same dimensions as a building would. It's curved, it's elegant, it's
Speaker A
leaning over, you know, connected on just a few points. So, the next thing I'm going to talk about is something called judgment. So, I'm making your conclusion in my own mind about the artwork. I want to talk about whether or not it is interesting and
Speaker A
talk about why, what are things that are going well in the sculpture and what things do I think, you know, could be improved or aren't really holding my attention very well. So, when looking at this artwork, I find it pretty appealing.
Speaker A
I'm looking at it and it holds my attention. It's something that I wouldn't mind spending some time looking at, but at the same time, when I'm looking at it, some parts that aren't as interesting to me—well, you know, when I look at it, I
Speaker A
really like the curved lines. I like how those draw my attention and move my eyes around. I'm not as fond of the large, bulky triangles that are kind of out in this area and over here. I feel like those are so different than
Speaker A
these areas that they don't necessarily seem to go as well together to me when I'm looking at it. So overall, yeah, the sculpture is interesting to me. I think it's really unique to have a sculpture that's so large in a space, and in that
Speaker A
way, you know, will create some interest to me too. So, as we're looking at our formal analysis, I want you to do the same type of thinking as you're looking at an artwork and deciding what you think it
Speaker A
means and why you think it's interesting or not. So, your really the description, the analysis help you out when you g...
Speaker A
yourself you know a good explanation imagine that somebody couldn't see the artwork and they were just going out for your description and your analysis and all of your other paragraphs here to figure out what it might look like all
Speaker A
right so that's formal analysis
Topics:formal analysissculpture analysisAlexander CalderFlamingo sculptureelements of artprinciples of designart interpretationart judgmentminimalismpublic art
