Here is my abstract, maybe this may help some people make more sense out of my project... let me know if it helps...

Active Perception in Figurative Sculpture

As a psychology and an art student, I am always looking to combine the two fields. Recently, I have been learning theories about perception along with color theory, composition, and visual illusions. These are the factors that shaped the concept of my project. I am responding to the active way in which humans perceive the world. Our perception, specifically the way we see color and form, is a function of our motion in space, including the movement of our eyeballs. Inspired by impressionism and abstract art, I am interested in the color theory and the essence of form. I am inspired by Seurat’s use of colored dots and the Picasso’s recording of objects from different angles in Cubism, giving importance to motion.

I am interested in breaking color and form apart into their essences: Primary colors and simplified, abstract forms. My goal is to put them back together in a three dimensional space, leaving negative space between them. The spatial relationship between the parts, the motion of the viewer, and the visual grouping phenomenon, should form the parts into a representational whole again. Yet, with a closer look, the individual parts will still be evident. I would like to artistically express this concept through figurative sculpture because I feel it is the area in art that lacks this type of “active perception” the most. The other reason why I would like to use figurative sculpture to express this concept is to show that as humans, we are not at all independent of our surroundings; our surroundings define us, just like the negative space will be a defining and an integral part of my project.

I will use thread to “draw” the abstract figure forms in space, with the support of an underlying structure. I would like to create three sculptures using this method. The threads will consist of various colors, mixed to combine into skin tones, just like the colored dots or strokes used in impressionistic paintings. There will be negative space between the threads and between the three sculptures they create, to allow the viewers to see the parts of the whole as they get closer, and to allow the viewers’ motion and mind to combine the forms and colors back to something that fits together and makes sense.

Another artist I am inspired by is Joyce Dallal, for his installation “Descent”. He used object grouping and the negative space between them to create an installation that looks like it is in motion and alive. I would like my sculptures to change and “come alive” as the viewer walks around them and sees how the forms and colors change.