Mundo Lineal

“Linear World” is inspired by “Computer Composition with Lines” and “Pattern One” by A. Michael Noll. My intention was to represent a planet Earth built only through lines, both its shape and its continents. The lines led me to reflect on the rigidity and social structure in which we live, but also its contradiction: an order that, when crossed, generates chaos.

Technical, aesthetic and conceptual development

The idea arose from my first contact with the works, upon seeing “Computer Composition with Lines” by A. Michael Noll (1964), where the first thing I interpreted was a work that reflects a planet Earth. In it I observed crosses that led me to funeral crosses, due to the form of composition with the lines. I investigate and discover that the original work is by Piet Mondrian, created in 1917, in a context of chaos and destruction after the First World War. Piet, together with his colleagues, propose an art that could transform a destroyed world, seeking harmony, serenity and a return to reason. All this relying on order and symmetry.

As for Michael Noll, his discovery was from a work error, which led to a linear pattern, “Pattern One” (1962), which he found aesthetically intriguing. He would later seek to replicate Piet’s work, having already explored similar patterns based on pseudo-randomness.

My work seeks the combination between Noll’s works (“Computer Composition with Lines” and “Pattern One”) and, by mere research, introducing Piet, the work being originally his, and what they managed to generate for me personally.

The “land” that I traced was the product of the first contact with the work. I couldn’t see it any other way, so I decided to take that path, which, personally, aligned it with the second work. The lines tracing continents and being disordered invite me to reflect on the linear, on the structure, something so deeply rooted in the social today.

In the text “Redefinition of artistic practices (21st century)”, José Luis Brea quotes the following: “This world and the other do not exist. Art can no longer claim to inhabit an autonomous sphere, a separate domain”, referring to the fact that, socially, art and the “real world” do not go on opposite paths. Which invites me to think about how, increasingly, art manages to link and be one with the earthly world, manifesting itself for or against the social and political.

A clear example is the aforementioned work by Piet, showing through the same chaos and destruction. Also Berni’s work “Untitled”, from the series “Dictatorships of the Southern Cone. State Terrorism in Argentina” (1977), showing his view on State terrorism.

My work tries to show that even the most “linear” (what appears to be neutral or technical) can be loaded with emotional and social content. It is a “linear” world that also collapses and becomes tense.

Literature

BREA, José Luis. (2008). “Redefinición de las prácticas artísticas (s. 21)” en El tercer umbral. Estatuto de las prácticas artísticas en la era del capitalismo cultural. Murcia: CENDEAC pp. 106_113.

Berni, Antonio (1977). “Sin Título, De la serie “Dictaduras del Cono Sur, Terrorismo de Estado en Argentina” Colección MAMBA.

druida. (2022). “AB 101: Figuras históricas en el arte generativo — A. Michael Noll” en Medium EE.UU

Clara Mas Casals. (2020) “Composición en blanco y negro. Piet Mondrian” Web Historia/Arte, España.