Thursday, December 11, 2014

Fragmentation

"As an object moves, it sequentially occupies various positions in space.  Visual fragmentation can be used to simulate this effect in art." - Mary Stewart in Launching the Imagination

Fragmentation is the ability to communicate movement through a sort of all-at-once stop motion type of art.  Imagine taking many photos of a bicycle moving, and then photoshopping them together to create one photo that has all the positions of the bicycle in it.  Essentially, what you're doing is attempting to simulate movement by showing all the parts of the movement in the same place.  I shared a photoshopped image of this type a while back, of a dog moving:


On the other hand, there are other ways to create fragmentation.  One could draw or paint all the positions of a moving figure, which obviously allows for the artist to manipulate the figures as he or she chooses.  Or, sticking with photography, it is possible to achieve the fragmented look with a different length of exposure.  The phenomenal example Stewart used in the book is Thomas Eakins' Double Jump from 1885.



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