Expanding your Square -ass.2

         This exercise helps develope an understanding of the division/contrast that is necessary to create Notan. A term my classmate, Jie Yan, mentioned during her presentation of 'The Expanded Square'.

So what is Notan?

It's a Japanese design concept involving the play and placement of light and dark next to each other in art and imagery. The use of negative and positive space transforms shapes and structures into flat shapes on a 2 dimensional surface. These are a few of my favourites :

 After being inspired by these great pieces, I got straight to work!

My Expanded square.

10"10

           My design is based on Islamic architecture which is very geometrical, yet I added some organic elements to give it a feminine touch.

I must say this assignment was very time consuming and quite challenging as you need to get all the exact measurements so your design wont look distorted, especially since my design is symmetrical.

I chose a crescent moon as my dominate figure, an Islamic symbol, to match my whole theme. As well as hidden Arabic calligraphy on the sides of the square which reads 'god'.

Notice how the mirror effect on the bottom 2 shapes create 2 symmetrical flowers when you tilt your head either way.

I know I could've chosen a coloured paper for this exercise, but I just love the contrast portraying elements of yin and yang.

And voila!

-For a step-by-step on how to make your own expanded square, check out this very helpful link below :)

http://www.artclothstudios.com/userfiles/file/Expanded%20Square%20revised.pdf

Enjoy!