Elements of Art

CONTEMPORARY
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 7 Elements of Arts
I. Line

II. C o l o r

III. Va l u e

IV. Te x t u r e

V. S h a p e

VI. C o m p o s i t i o n i n S p a c e
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VII.M o v e m e n t
 Elements of Art and their
Characteristics
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 A
Line
 Associated with the body’s axis as it moves toward different directions
and adjusts to a point of reference through various positions and
actions such as walking, running, standing, sitting, reclining etc.
 In visual arts, this refers to the quality of the line whether thin,
broken, thick, or blended.
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Univeristy Gateway by Napoleon Abueva Oblation by Guillermo Tolentino

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 A
Line
Church of the Holy Sacrifice 1955 by Leandro Locsin

INSIDE
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 B Color
 It is associated with our experience of cold and warmth/ and
the quality of light in the tropical environment, with the
cycles night (darkness) and day (light).

Hue is one of the aspects of color

it has to do with how light waves of various lengths and rapidity of
vibrations bounce off objects and enter our lives.

Warm Hues red, orange, yellow (longer wavelengths)

Cool Hues blue, green, violet (shorter wavelengths)
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 B Color
Primary Colors: blue, yellow, red
Secondary Colors: orange, violet, green

Primary and Secondary Color

 when placed opposite in color wheel, they are said to

be complementary.

Hues may vary in saturation, intensity or brilliance-

another aspect of color

Example: if brilliant blue is mixed with neutral such as

gray, its hue or blueness doesn’t change. It just becomes
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duller.
 B Color
Another aspect: Value or Tone
refers to hue’s brightness or darkness.

Example: when hue is mixed with black, it becomes dim

when hue is mixed with white or gray, it lightens

C Value
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refers to gradations of tone from light to

dark which can be an aspect of color
 B Color
The School of Design and Art (SDA) building of the
La Salle College of St. Benilde on Vito Cruz,Manila by
Architect Lor Calma

River of Life (1954) by Galo Ocampo

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 Leeroy New Artworks

Rameer Tawasil’s Artwork Nestor Vinluan’s Artwork

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 B Color
Rameer Tawasil’s Artwork Nestor Vinluan’s Artwork
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 C Value
refers to gradations of tone from light to
dark which can be an aspect of color
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 D Texture

 When several lines come together (can be very thin, washed or

very thick, rough or fine)

Example: Barong and Baro’t Saya Crocheted Dress by Aze Ong

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 D Texture
o In representational works, textures can be simulated or imitated. However, textures
can also be actual, as can be found in collage, where actual objects are glued on a
surface.

Example: Imelda Cajipe-Endaya Artwork

Pasyong Bayan
Abalorio Sa Buhangin
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 E. Shapes

 It can either be geometric (rectilinear or curvilinear), biomorphic or free

inventions.

Also refers to forms that are two dimensional or three dimensional:

Two dimensional shapes exist as planes having length and width.

Three dimensional shapes possesses length, width and volume.
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 E. Shapes
Te x t i l e a n d S h a p e s

The graphic shapes of the

Binakol are executed with
such mathematical
precision they achieve an
illusionist effect.
Binakol by Tingguians of Alora, Northern Philippines
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The geometric T’nalak of Southern Mindanao

The geometric shapes of the Pis Syabit of Tausugs
 E. Shapes
Woodcarving

∞ The maranao okir represents the sarimanok other motifs include the naga, and
pako rabong, consisting of plant forms, such as the dapal, or raon (leaf),
pako (fern-spiral), todi (Katuray Flower), and potiok (bud.)
SARIMANOK PAKO RABONG
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NAGA
 E. Shapes
BUILDINGS AND
HOUSES
o It also takes many forms and shapes,
from the geometric upward orientation
of skyscrapers to the squat low forms of
the nipa hut or bahay kubo
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 SHAPES
Oblation by Guillermo Tolentino
Univeristy Gateway by Napoleon Abueva

Church of the Holy Sacrifice 1955 by Leandro Locsin

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 SHAPES
§ Paintings in the Cubist style have intersecting and overlapping shapes, some flat and in the
case of collage, jutting out of the picture plane.

The Stations of the Cross by Vicente Manansala Fishermen by Ang Kiukoks

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 SHAPES
§ Paintings in the Cubist style have intersecting and overlapping shapes, some flat and in the
case of collage, jutting out of the picture plane.

The Stations of the Cross by Vicente Manansala Fishermen by Ang Kiukoks

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 Arturo Luz early works were figurative,
became later known for non figurative
works featuring hard-edged geometric
shapes with sharp precision.
Vendador de Flores, 1952 Imaginary Landscapes, 2012
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 A
R
National Artist Hernando Ruiz
T
Ocampo (HR Ocampo), who
W
rendered free and organic colorful
O
shapes across his canvases in his later R
period. K
Daang Ligid Cruz,
A 1996
R
Alfredo Espaquillo creates paintings
T
that possesses the characteristics of
W
photographically realistic. O
R
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K
 Daang Ligid Cruz,
1996
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 Molo Mansion, 2020

Antipas Delotavo

:create such illusions through skillful modeling,

contouring, and deft use of light and shadow.
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 F Composition in Space
€ It involves the relationship between figures and
elements.

€ It also refers to how these elements are organized and

composed according to principles of organization,
among them balance, proportion, rhythm, unity in
variety, dominance and subordination.
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 National artist Guillermo Tolentino’s
Bonifacio Monument, 1933 in Caloocan
has a circular composition, fitted for its
composition at the center of a busy rotunda
where principal streets converge.

Closer Look

BONIFACIO MONUMENT
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 Oblation, 1958
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 MAP OF UP DILIMAN
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 This composition follows the “town and gown” planning of American
Universities, which are also founded on principles of symmetry and balance that
govern Neoclassic town planning.
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 ҉ In Spanish town planning, the church or cathedral ҉ American colonial city planning was
dominates the plaza complex, along with the municipio or thoroughly secular, fans haped instead of
municipal hall, and the houses of the elite called bahay na rectangular, was open and conducive to
bato. social exchange

җ Designed by urban planner Daniel Burnham, the Burnham

Plan of Manila gives importance to parks, open spaces and
landscaping.

җ Burnham’s Plan of Manila departs from Spanish walled city

planning, exemplified by Intramuros. Yet, for all its merits, the
Burnham plan failed to foresee the need for mass housing, and
more efficient public transport for the burgeoning working class
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who arrive en masse from the rural areas.

 Compositon in space can also discerned in dance. The soaring movements of classical ballet defy gravity,

while the earth bound staccato and sculptural poses, and flowing,
fluid hand and feet gestures of dances like the pangalay in
Minadanao harmonize with the rhythms of nature.
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 ARCHITECTUR
E

The massive cantilevered block of the Cultural Centered of the Philippines

dominates and overwhelms the human scale and juts out of the reclaimed land on
which it stands. This is very much in keeping with its function as a “shrine” of High
Art.
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 ARCHITECTUR
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In contrast, the bahay kubo of the lowlands and the traditional houses of the Cordillera in the
North derive their materials from the immediate surroundings. The northern houses are compact
and adjust to the mountainous terrain, built to withstand cold and rain
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The bahay kubo on stilts is shaped to withstand flood and let air and light circulate, especially
in dry and hot weather in the lowlands.
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The native dwelling’s harmony with human scale in the way houses are built to correspond with the
human body. The Tausug build their posts according to a strict sequence corresponding to the order
of the body parts. In their system of belief, the different posts of the house represents the various
paths pf the body, the head, the shoulders, the limbs, with the navel-post taking central position
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 ARCHITECTURE

Asian societies, the central post of the house is the vertical axis which links the three levels of being the underworld, the
world of people, and the world of heavenly spirits.
Folk beliefs also surround the timing of the seasons. The best time for building a house coincides with the tides of the
moon, or the position of the mythical sky serpent called the bakunawa; for laying
the house post and the shape of the house (it should not be shaped like a coffin for example);
conventions also figure in deciding the direction of the stairway, and the number of steps; the slope of the roof; the
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laying out of floor planks; alignments of the openings; and the best time for moving into a new house.
 G MOVEMENT
: It may occur in two-dimensional design as rhythm or through recurrence of motifs, their
alternation or progression unfolding in a series. Movement is also very much related to line, and
the direction of the eye,
Filipino Struggles through History, 1964

Carlos Francisco’s mural, Filipino Struggles through

History, 1964 which was once hung at the Bulwagang
Katipunan of the Manila City Hall shows a sense of
forward movement that captures the fervor and energy of
the revolution.
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 G MOVEMENT
In three-dimensional expressions, the sense of movement can be implied—such as in the creative
activities of National Artist Napoleon Abueva’s Nine Muses, 1994 adorning the Faculty Center
building at UP Diliman; or actual —such as that of David Cortez Medalla’s biokinetic constructions
from the sixties (the bubble machine series that spew quantities of foam and a monumental sand
machine.)
Bubble Machine Monumental Sand Machine
Nine Muses, 1994
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 G MOVEMENT
† Dance creates composition in space through movements. While western dances like the
classical ballet strives toward lightness, traditional.
† Asian dances are in continuous contact with the ground, from which they derive their energy.
Hand gestures suggest unending natural phenomena- the flutter of wings , the blooming of
flowers, the swaying of palm leaves.

The dances in Sulu Mindanao are linear and

assymetrical, punctuated by sculptural or static
positions. Traditional Asian Dances, as we learned in
the previous lessons, are also largely ceremonial and
cannot be separated from other artforms such as textile,
sculpture, and music.
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 G MOVEMENT

Movements in cinema partakes of the movements of the camera: it pans to survey a scene, scans the height of a building, and dwells
on the contents of a room. It is tracked when it follows a figure or an object such as locomotive. It zooms when the camera makes a
sudden movement, or zeroes in on a particular figure or object such as someone who is eavesdropping behind a door, or a clue that is
unintentionally dropped on the floor. A camera may be shaky and handheld, usually used in indie movies, or can take on the motion
of a car, a train or a bullet, thus conveying subjective moods, atmosphere, and states in flux
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 G MOVEMENT
FILM BY JOEL LAMANGAN
Another set of movements comes from film editing in which the shot, the
basic unit, is arranged along with the other shots into a meaningful unit. The
result is narrative flow that can be linear, arranged with flashbacks, back and
forth, fragmented or episodic, slow, fast paced, monotonous, flat and so on.

The camera can linger on a particular scene, object or room, or it can cut to
different scenes in rapid succession, such as the montage of the execution
scene (at the embassy in San Pablo, or in Changi prison, etcetera) in the Flor
Contemplacion, 1995 film.
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 Less traditional camera work is seen in the long takes of Lav Diaz who is known for “defying
film conventions with the length of his critically-acclaimed films”, according to Hernandez.

FILMS
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A film that is almost eleven hours long A film that is nine hours long A film that is almost ten hours
 G MOVEMENT
M

Another example is the long take in John Red’s

first full length feature film Still Lives (1999)
I
where the camera never moved throughout the film
E
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 G MOVEMENT

Diaz and Red are example of “indie” or independent filmmakers; they produce their
own films with little, if at all, funding from mainstream studios. According to
Hernandez, such self productions are made possible with the advent of digital
technology. The shift from celluloid to digital made filmmaking more flexible and
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requires minimal budget.