Sacred Geometry- The Perfect Proof- “Gelli Plate Monoprints”
During the visit of artist Reni Gower gallery talk, I came upon a piece of artwork that I was fascinated with. The piece I chose for my first art gallery review is called “Gelli Plate Monoprints”, which features the work of mixed-media artist Reni Gower. This artwork consisted of singular “papercuts”, pulped painting, and grid installations which are complex patterns inspired by Celtic knotwork and Islamic ornamental tiles, and are hand cut from single sheets of paper. This work of art triggered me with how much, lines, shapes, color, unity, rhythm, and focal point that it’s put into the piece to have such astonishing details.
The artwork is prevalent and shows profound spiritual and emotional qualities of color, light, and patterns. In this piece of GPS print, acrylic paint is applied through the stencils onto a soft Gelli plate and the burnishing transfers the shapes to paper. This GPS print has or shows three of the visual elements of art, line, shape, and color. Horizontal, vertical, and diagonal lines are used throughout the art piece. The horizontal lines make the piece of art seem like it is calm and peaceful, and the vertical line creates a sense of everything being in order. As you can see from the piece, there are nine squares which are formed by the vertical and horizontal lines. The curve lines vary in terms of measurements with the repetitive patterns that lead the eye and response of the viewer. The diagonal lines in this piece form a diamond which creates a focal point in the middle of each square and in the middle of the whole piece triggering the viewers’ attention with the directional lines. You can also see that the diagonal lines in the middle of the piece create orthogonal lines. The orthogonal lines coming from the top and bottom of the piece creates an X that is leading towards the focal point giving the viewer a perspective of the horizon in the middle. The triangles that are attached to the sides of the diamond or the slanted square also forms a leading direction to the middle of the art piece. The overlapping of the circles creates a perceptual illusion that one is in front of the squares, diamond shapes, and the diagonal lines.
The colors in the middle also attract the viewers’ eyes by adding jewel tones, blue, green, purple, pink, and yellowish. The color is more vibrant in the middle and the blue in the background is like a contrast between the middle and the outside. The gray color in the outsides looks like a transition to the light ones. You can also see the use of low key complementary and primary colors. She puts the complimentary, green, orange, and purple side by side, and the primary yellow, red, and blue side by side too. The middle is more purple and it’s the complementary color of yellow which makes it stand out more. You can see a lot of unity in this artwork by seeing the number of circles that are connected to each other, the squares, the lines and to the curves. The big circle in the middle also adds that unity to the whole piece. If the piece was to be symmetric, and you were to add more circles to the edge going vertically and horizontally the piece would continue. Like mention before the medium of the piece is basically paper and acrylic. It’s contemporary because it takes a lot of time to cut off every little piece. The stencil is extremely thin making it hard for her not to break it. The lines are thin, so she had to be very careful, the paint is not that perfect because you must hold it down somehow to be able to paint on top.
Gower was inspired by sacred geometry, a concept from ancient times that derives meaning from perfect shapes such as circles, squares, and triangles. In her work, Gower hopes to use the universal language of sacred geometry to connect Western and Middle Eastern artistic legacies with hope and optimism.
St3: Two
2017
Acrylic on handcut paper
22" x 22"
