Image, Rhythm and Form as it Relates to Art: Figments of the Imagination or Real?

In terms of art, the word image has vast connotations. For example, it signifies “a reproduction of the form of a person or object, especially a sculptured likeness.”

Mentally, images take on form in the human mind. For example, looking at something or imaging "a mental picture of something not real or present" gives it form.

Perhaps what makes it even more real is its rhythm.

For example, look out a window and watch the swaying of tree branches, in a breeze. Close your eyes and you can still envision the image, as it has taken on the form of a swaying tree in your mind. What gives it life is its movement when you look at it initially, or when you recall the rhythm in your mind later.

An inspired artist instinctively knows how to incorporate image, rhythm and form into his or her artwork. In terms of a sculptured likeness, the image and form of art conveyed through the media of his or her choice reveal the envisioned rhythm of the artwork, particularly as it nears completion. In other words, it comes alive.

With respect to a sculpture, an artist may see a man walking down the road. He draws what he sees with charcoal and later conveys both the image and form to a marble sculpture that reveals the life or rhythm of the man, through the action and posture accorded him by the artist.

In terms of computer graphics, the rhythm can become animation or the life-likeness incorporated into the piece of artwork. Altering the action and/or posture allows the rhythm to flow in a lifelike manner. The image and form are still present.

Image, form and rhythm, incorporated into different kinds of visual art, reveal a multiplicity of images, forms and rhythms that work in conjunction with one another. At times, these are figments of the artist’s imagination, brought to life because the human mind is capable of doing that. What comes to life begins in an inspired artist’s mind.

Note that combining image, form and rhythm is not always something that reveals harmony as there may appear to be disharmony or discord. The possibilities in art are virtually endless.

Everything is in the eye of the beholder, at least to some extent.

For example, picture a sculpture of a man swimming against the current, ultimately victorious in crossing a raging river. What the original artist envisions may differ from what a person gifted with art appreciation sees. Each entails image, form and rhythm, though different, at times.