Juxtaposition

                                                            Juxtaposition

         A dictionary says juxtaposition is the fact of two things being seen or placed close together with contrasting effect.  Juxtaposition can be rather tame, for example in algebra  ab  means  a  times  b.   It is much more lively in literature , theater, and movies.  An easy example that comes to mind is Don Quixote and Sancho Panza, or any star and his side kick, or a comedian and his straight man, or a ventriloquist and his puppet. 

                                                         Francois Morellet

     Please look at the art juxtaposition by the French artist Francois Morellet.

    The original, called between two seas (entre deux mers), had low contrast and close to black and white, so I made my own copy that you see.  Well, I don't know quite why but upon first sight, on my own wall, I found the pair surprising and amusing.  Perhaps that was because you don't expect such a work in your own house and small compared to in a gallery and large.

    To me the blue seems like water, maybe seen through two openings.  Maybe the act of imagination seemed amusing, like me taking over the work unintentionally.

                                                              Architecture

    See the photo taken in the city of Lincoln in England and attributed to Jonathan Billinger.

                                        

   So, what is juxtaposed?  The new and the old. The house has a saffron yellow roof edge which relates color-wise to the house on the left and the cathedral in the background.  The fact that we don't see its base makes it seem to be looming back there.  The road functions to lead your eye back to the cathedral.  Even the white color of the car seems appropriate --- repetition of the white of the building, and no introduction of extraneous colors.

                                                           Free standing Sculpture 

    Here is another construction by Morellet, this time in three dimensions.   The "line" is actually a long piece of metal, an angle iron.  The square pieces have to be rotated in space about the line so that one side of each square can lie on the floor.

                    

                                                        Carmen Herrera

        We see what looks like two L shapes.  If each were a perfect L shape they could not fit with negative space wedges showing.  I leave it to you to study how the L on the right side has been altered.  

                            

    That was rather tame, so we now look at another juxtaposition by Herrera that is shocking to the eyes.  Can you work out what is juxtaposed against what.  Or maybe you see a number of juxtapositions?  Is this also Op Art (optical art)?                           

       Along the line where the black and white bars meet, to your eyes, is there a kind of quivering or greasy look, and a bit dizzying?  Something is going on with perception?  You almost expect the pattern to be uniform throughout each diamond shape but it is not.

        Is it disturbing?  See a similar one by using the search feature with the keyword Herrera.

                                                       Nicolas Krushenick

    We present a furiously active painting by Nicolas  Krushenick

of juxtaposed battling spear heads.  What does the striped filler contribute?  Could that be a field underneath two cutouts?

                                        

See also in a gallery.  You can enlarge to see others.

                            

      I encourage you to do a Google image search to see the range of his works.                       

                                                        Leon Polk Smith

      We are kind of back to Ls again but this time your mind has to fill them out.

                            

  Do you see a small parallelogram near where the ovals touch?  Do you see a large parallelogram using the outer black bands?  Are the ovals identical?  The ovals seem to be more accurately ellipses. Would another color combination have the same impact?  Is this combination kind of reserved, dignified, classic?  Why?                         

                                                             Roy Lichtenstein

        See now a field of disks and a field of diagonal stripes.  Those two fields are juxtaposed. 

                                

                                

         You can also mentally shrink the image vertically and stretch horizontally.  Then the whole artwork roughly corresponds with an image you are intimately familiar with --- "the stars and stripes" --- the U.S. flag.

      Are these juxtapositions jarring, irreverent, unpatriotic, mocking?

Would Lichtenstein's image make a great flag for the avant-garde or for the unhinged?    Note that Juxtaposition occurs frequently in art and you will find examples in other post throughout this blog.

                                                             David Batchelor

       We will see another and loose way of using Ls.  This is a painting by David Batchelor.                       

Well, it may look like a jumble because none of the Ls match.
But we can notice the lower left flows into the lower right then upward to the upper right. And three of the Ls agree in direction.
So, maybe it has some quirky appeal.

        Bachelor makes sculptures as well.  See one standing in a gallery.

                                    

     Look at how statuesque it stands.  I mean how graceful, as if it had feet and a head and a torso.  The Ls fit in so nicely in many ways, as well as the light and dark pieces.  Does it look like a friend --- a solid citizen?  Do you see a clavicle and shoulders or at least one shoulder?  I feel a joy of zaniness when I see it.

     He also made imaginative open lattice work pieces with a bit of a slap dash look.  For reference to the art movement that values that carefree approach, use the blog search feature for casualism or provisionalism.

                                    

    The colored parts look transparent like colored celluloid pasted on.  I see a bit of an oriental look in the protruding pieces, especially the one with a slight upturn.  What other interesting irregularities do you see?