On Jun 2, 2008, at 6:30 PM, William Conger wrote:
I think we like symmetry because it reflects our own
bodies. But we often like asymmetry more because it
suggests movement and action.
Symmetry is the ratio of identity, 1:1. It's parity, equivalence,
accord. It's easily perceived, it doesn't involve subtle proportions.
It's rational (in the Renaissance use), and it can expand readily to
other ratios: 1:2, 1:3, etc. Symmetry is stable, which is why it is a
widely used principle in hieratic compositions, e.g., Christ Judging,
the ruler enthroned, etc.
Asymmetry is unbalance, disequilibrium, disparity, discord. Unbalance
and disequilibrium generate motion, flow, restoration, recentering ...
i.e., movement and action.
Cheerskep spoke of the "statisfaction" of the completed chord. A good
term: satisfaction is an appetite word. It is a completion, a filling
up, a restoring of the disequilibrium of emptiness, void, paucity.
Symmetry "satisfies" by reflection.
BTW, I lost the original message with the web link to the story about
abstraction. Can someone repost it?
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Michael Brady
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
