week 11. Comments on Mansbach, Steven A., 1980, "Kinetic Art for a Dynamic Age', in Visions of Totality, UMI Research Press, Michigan, pp. 43 - 68.

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http://www.yugop.com

Well this week, we have to discuss the works of contemporary visual designer Yugo Nakamura and a pioneering “movement” artist. Looking at some of the kinetic drawings of the pioneering artists, I found it hard to make a comparative argument with the majority of their works. The mediums of which the pieces of art are presented on are very differnt, making it complex to underline some common ground for the two.

However I did find a piece by Theo Van Doesburg, which really utilizes perceptions and contrast to emphasis kinetic design. The slight differ in each white background square in the picture, the change of size, and the consistent parallel side lines of the square gives the impression of forward movement towards the viewer. Furthermore, the triangles formed but the black and white squares indicate the direction of desired propagation.

Nakamura’s piece "shift cover", gives us the same impression of the zooming effect by similar ideas such as strong black and white contrast, and the change of size of objects. Being an interactive piece, the direction of the movement is generally forward and sideways.

http://yugop.com/ver3/index.asp

Effectively both pictures use the same idea of dynamic interaction between the observer and each piece gives a sense of life and conveys a sense of flow of energy. Like in Nakamura’s piece, it is as if the energy is passed from text to text. In Theo Van Doesburg, the energy is passed to progressive squares. Therefore, I think it is fair to say that these two artist still share ideas and concepts when approaching kinetic art.