shadows Under the bridge, Tulsa
In drawing, light falls on a spherical surface creates a gradation of shadows from light to dark. Within the cast shadow there is an area that has no light and is the darkest area of the object. Adding shadow to an object creates a figure and ground relationship on paper, so a form will not look like flying UFO. Shadows ground objects to earth, allowing the artist to express the volume and solidity of being. Tracing cast shadows from different objects is to choose, to see, and to create composition. When you don’t look at the surface details, the shapes consolidated and gave the artists a chance to deal with negative and positive spaces.
color shadow drawing by students
Finding an old frame with a cut out silhouette portrait in it at the flea market is something we all have experienced. American artist Kara Walker is best known for her room-size tableau of black cut-paper silhouette that examine the underbelly of American’s racial and gender tensions. One of her pieces at Crystal Bridge Museum “A Warm Summer Evening in 1863” depicted a Silhouette figure suspending on a wool tapestry. On the other hand, Jan Pienkowki’s children books, their superbly detailed silhouettes, set against glowing, jeweled – colored backgrounds illuminated the fairytale. Using Silhouette in art can be cultural, aesthetic, or political; however, shadows’ moving in space is always personal, it brings out our fears and excitement. The Lascaux cave drawings were found by archaeologist Marc Azema and French artist Florent Rivere, who suggest that Paleolithic artists who lived as long as 30,000 years ago used animation effects on cave walls. The images look superimposed until flickering torch-light is passed over them, giving them movement and creating a brief animation. (http://www.webpronews.com/prehistoric-animated-cave-drawings-discovered-in-france-2012-06) The huge volume of darkness roaming down the hallway is a classic in horror films and so does using Chiaroscuro to create an eerie feeling in the scare- me- to- death movies “The Ring” and “Conjuring”. As far as a pleasant side: the living shadow of Peter Pan unleashes magic away from Peter and enjoys his freedom. When I was a teen, I used to see my shadow in late afternoons. The sunset cast beautiful shadow out of my body on the ground: my body was slim, legs were long; a perfect Barbie-like silhouette. That moment also planted a seed of feminist questioning cultural control over the shape of female body contours.
Thumbelina silhouettes animation from Lotte Reiniger, 1954
‘Magic Castle’ by Jan Pienkowski
More on Shadow Performances:
http://www.ted.com/talks/miwa_matreyek_s_glorious_visions
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Finally, I did my shadow book illustration:
Shadow pages by Yiren Gallagher
We are but dust and shadow. –Horace