Composition - Underlying Meaning

The combination of words “underlying meaning” carries a subtle insight, that there is something hidden and important, that shapes or effects "something else" without explicitly manifesting itself. This “something else” is artwork’s composition touching strings in our mind and our soul creating association bond with artwork. Different people have different strings resonating differently.

When an artwork creates association bond with a very large audience it becomes one of the great value and significance. In all art forms artist toolbox has powerful tool called composition. Composition is the hidden process creating “underlying meaning” the composition. Composition uses shapes, lines, curves, colors, light, shadows, gradients, contrast, nuance, texture, proportions and boundaries of invisible map constrained by boundary of the canvas. In some instances, we can decipher the hidden composition, in many other instances we can’t, leaving the burden of deciphering aside relying on our association bond with artwork. 

 

Between the years 1910 and 1939, Wassily Kandinsky painted 10 canvases to which he assigned the title “Composition” and sequentially numbered them by Roman numbers. Composition VII is widely regarded as the best abstract painting of 20th century.

Kandinsky named his work “Compositions” not simply because they were formed by simple abstract elements; shapes, lines, curves, colors, light, shadows, gradients, contrast, nuance, texture, proportions and boundaries stripped off objective art into realm of non-objective (Abstract) art. In his vision, music is the most transcendent form of non-objective art, and he aims to involve the same effect in his compositions. Composition followed objective art from 4,000 BC, largely canonized in ancient Egypt, ancient Greece and Rome, Middle Ages. Finally, concept of Composition exploded in burst of ideas in 20th century giving birth to non-objective (Abstract) arts,