Arraying Words and Arrows in Art Historical 2-Space by Alfred Barr and How to Look at Art in America by Ad Reinhardt are, in my opinion, two of the most interesting information diagrams that I have seen. I spent more time looking at and decoding these two charts than I did reading the whole chapter. These pieces really inspired me and for the first time I am starting to get excited about info graphs and their endless creative possibilities. When I sat down to construct my own graph based on my personal timeline of all of the college courses I've taken, I could not come up with a refreshing graphic or interesting way to display my information so I just made a simple bar graph. Now, after seeing these two examples I am ready to start on my final project and try to create an art piece that is visually appealing yet also contains data arranged in a way that is easy to understand. My approach to our first graph was very much unlike the style I use in my art and I would like to bring the two together for my final project.
While looking at Arraying Words I was a bit confused about the different arrows, why some lines were red and others were black, 2 lines are dashed and the rest solid. Even though I didn't understand completely what was being displayed I was still excited to uncover the information, maybe this is because I am interested in the data itself presented. After hand drawing out my own chart (and making several mistakes that cause you to have to start over) I can't even image how many drafts there are of this piece. Upon examination of the lines and arrows, the author brought to light a valid point when he stated, “Depicted by single-headed arrows, causality flows just one way without the back-and-forth possibilities of mutual influence in art.” Art sometimes moves one step forward two steps back, it can't possibly only go in one direction and perhaps this diagram would be even more successful if there was some more diversity in the lines and arrows to create a richer dialog.
As for How to Look at Art in America, I was pleased with the humor that was incorporated in this piece. Graphs can be interactive and can contain several layers, depending on the viewer's knowledge of the subject being presented. I enjoyed how this graph was influenced greatly on the artists personal opinion and unique style rather than stale facts. I would love to have this diagram blown up on my wall to examine it closer, as I'm sure there is more to discover.
No comments:
Post a Comment