Geometry as Reality

Composing paintings or crafts with geometrical precision is one of the most basic techniques of artistic creation, going back centuries. In the early 20th century, geometry became something more than a technique. For abstract and cubist artists, geometry became itself a subject matter of art, rather than a way to section off parts of a landscape according to geometric proportion

The abstract artist Wassily Kandinsky theorized about art as a spiritual practice, and found in simple shapes and colors the subject matter appropriate to his ambitions. Kandinsky's ideas swept the European continent, and became part of a general trend towards ever more innovative uses for geometry in art. Dutch artists of De Stijl like Piet Mondrian and Theo van Doesburg operated close to Kandinsky's aesthetic, while other trends in painting, collage, and design forked new paths. Cubist artists Georges Braque and Pablo Picasso created collage artworks and paintings according to new principles of composition, allowing themselves to be guided by demands of shape and color. In design and architecture, new movements like the Bauhaus demonstrated a preference for strong shapes and simple geometry. These were part and parcel of utopian visions, shared with co-founder Kandinsky, of a human world surrounded by design which incarnated the most essential features of nature.

For practical purposes, geometrical art perhaps comes most into its own with the advent of artistic design. After World War II, new styles, inspired by architectural design, overtook the opulence of Art Deco. The Bauhaus motto (shared by many others) that "form follows function" became an established orthodoxy, as artists previously associated with European avant garde trends in art and design like Anni and Josef Albers further promoted these ideas in North America.

Mid century modern art and design was a popular design trend, which make strong use of simple, linear, geometric motifs on mass-produced furnishings and decor. From the 1960's, Minimalism in art and design became a signal trend in both the art world and home decor, also characterized by strong, geometric forms and patterns. Today, these movements have a new lease on life, both as vintage and retro styles. It has had a huge influence as a home design trend, most famously, uniting avant garde and mid-century aesthetics in popular Scandinavian style.

Decorating with Geometrical art

In planning a home design concept with geometrical art, perhaps this is the most important point to consider: the geometrical style in art is less simple than it at first appears. This is so for a number of reasons. Firstly, as a tendency in abstract art, it embodies the legacy of the quest for deeper realities, manifest in the seemingly uncomplicated depiction of line and color within a non-objective, or non-representational style. Secondly, while it is non-representational - and therefore more familiar as design or patterns - geometric art does have strong effects in a room. The lines in a geometric artwork will direct the viewer's attention in a particualar direction. A vertically oriented motif will draw attention upward. While this can vertically expand a room with a low ceiling, a work with horizontally oriented lines can have the optical effect of expanding lengthwise walls in rooms with less square footage.

Consider the goals of a decor concept. If you want to introduce a work for its fine art qualities, simply make sure it is placed somewhere it receives its full effect. If your plan is specifically to set an accent associated with geometric abstract art, you have a wider range of flexibility. Minimalist geometric prints by Sarah Morris are true abstract works - they are non-objective, or depict geometrical representations rather than recognizable "real" subject matter. By contrast, photo art by Peter Stewart or Jose Manuel Ballester, or aerial landscapes by Tom Hegen, are examples of objective art: art which provides us with a real subject. That is indeed the specific merit of these artworks, which locate an element of geometrical abstraction within everyday subjects like buildings, construction zones, or the earth itself. Black and white abstract art with a geometrical motif is well-placed as a bedroom artwork, where color and motif work together with natural or artificial lighting to create a mood of calm.

In general, geometric artworks in our selection do not however suffer from the problem of "blending in". This is especially true for the surreal designs of 3deluxe and graft. Aerial photographic landscapes are a delightful point of intersection between the real and the unreal, and are in some ways are extraordinary manifestations of the geometrical style in art tout court. Such works are lovely additions to living room art decor.