I think we like symmetry because it reflects our own bodies. But we often like asymmetry more because it suggests movement and action.
I don't think it's possible to look at any "abstract" painting or anything purported to be abstract and not try to name it as "looking like" something else. Everything looks like something else. Some things we see are more specific in that respect than others. The more allusive or ambiguous a thing is, the more things it "looks like". WC --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > A8 is on a roll. Those were two interesting pieces > he sent us to. > > 'Satisfying' is a good word to apply to the feeling > we can get from symmetry. > It brought to mind the comparable questions: Why > are "resolutions" in music > and in "storytelling" satisfying? > > In an attempt to think about these questions, > addressing the FORM as > distinguished from the plot-particulars in a story > isn't always easy. In music, we can > at a very young age come to long for the resolution > of a chord, and for > finality at the end. Why? > > The piece about how to look at abstract art -- with > that writer's appeal that > we stop trying to find representations in the > abstraction -- is also worth > comparing to how we listen to music, and how we > "grasp" the over-arching > "through-line" in a novel, play, or movie. > > Still, why do certain "well-made" stories and and > music-pieces nevertheless > fail to "satisfy". Why do some post-nineteenth > century music-pieces that just > seem to STOP nevertheless feel right? In fiction, > some works -- almost always > short stories -- "satisfy" though they are "still > lifes" that leave us at the > end where we were at the beginning. But isn't > storytelling usually expected > to be a "temporal" WoA? > > All of it is strange, fascinating, and, happily, > inexhaustible in its > mystery. > > > ************** > Get trade secrets for amazing burgers. Watch > "Cooking with > Tyler Florence" on AOL Food. > > (http://food.aol.com/tyler-florence?video=4& > ?NCID=aolfod00030000000002)
