Blanace – Imbalance

Artist: Abdur Rahmanmamun
Title of Work: Unknown – in “Rangamati Tour”
Year Produced: Unkown
Medium: Photography
Source: http://bdfoto.net/portfolio-3

Artist: Donte
Title of Work: Unkown
Year Produced: Unkown
Medium: Photography
Source: http://photosbydonte.com/Balance

The idea of the balance of imbalance is basically that you can achieve balance in a piece even if the subject matter is imbalanced. Both of these pieces are really good examples of balanced pieces that have an imbalance in  subject matter. In the top, the coffee bean sits on the right of the piece, causing that side to be heavier than the other, but the fact that the other side is very plain, and that there is more of it, with no competing images, somehow brings a balance to it. The bottom image is very similar, the flowers act as a heaviness on the right side, while the larger space on the left, being much brighter than that on the right, brings about a balance.

Balance – Asymmetrical

Artist: Katsushika Hokusai
Title of Work: The Great Wave off Kanagawa
Year Produced: 1829-32
Medium: Woodblock print
Source of image: http://totallyhistory.com/art-history/famous-paintings/

Artist: C.M. Coolidge
Title of Work: Dogs Playing Poker
Year Produced: 1903
Medium: Oil Painting
Source of image: http://totallyhistory.com/art-history/famous-paintings/

A piece can also obtain balance through asymmetry. This means that even though the piece is not the same on both sides of a division, the forms in it create a sort of balance, which can be achieved in many different ways. The top piece managed to create a balance between the sky and sea, with them taking up similar amounts of space in the piece, though not symmetrical. The bottom piece contains a similar amount of weight on each side of it, even though it is using greatly varying figures, to achieve balance. Even though there are more figures on the right, the figure in the chair and the chair itself seems weightier that those on the right side, thus achieving an asymmetrical balance.

Balance – Symmetrical

Artist: Kazuya Akimoto
Title of Work: Nazca Symmetry
Year Produced: 2007
Medium: Acrylic
Source of Image: http://www.enantiomorphicchamber.com/2008/03/kazuya-akimoto-nazca-symmetry-2007.html

Artist: David Gordon Whittaker
Title of Work: Under Pier Clouds
Year Produced: Unknown
Medium: Photography
Source of image: http://www.photographyblogger.net/symmetry/

The symmetrical form of balance is basically when you could divide a piece in half and both sides would look the same, as if they were mirror images across the division. Both pieces above are symmetrical on both sides from a vertical middle line. They repeat nearly perfectly.