The Landscapes of Abstraction

...Turn an abstract painting into what?...a landscape. Never did I think that an abstract cubist painting could be conveyed in a spatial way such as a landscape.  The approach for my transformation was the use of topography to shape the landscape and areas within.  After reading about the Shodan House by Le Corbusier, an understanding of cubist organization came into thought...regulating lines.  It was not until I made a comparison between the way the first floor of the Shodan House was designed, and the way Le Corbusier painting Pale Still Life with Lantern that I realized how identical the thought process of an artist of this time was no matter what the medium.
Based on the regulating lines pulled from the painting certain areas of level ground could be formed and a structure replicating the gentle curve of a teapot.  This structural extrusion is accompanied by a ramp that winds down to ground level from a second floor terrace.  Topographic heights were determined by the layer in space that the objects in the painting were.  The further back, the lower that area of ground. The closer to the front of the painting, the higher the ground.
Abstract landscape, frustrating, but intriguing.

Finally...an understanding

With a more solid understanding of cubism and why the artists make specific choices that they do in the paintings, I was able to achieve a greater sense of what occurs spatially.  Here are the results.

Object/Space

Diorama

Layers

Into the Depths of Purism

The opening of the abstract mind occurred more quickly than expected. A collection of thoughts and an overwhelming feeling.  Before finally getting a grasp on the whole Purism trend, utter frustration was the only information that could be pulled out of the painting below, Le Corbusiers, Pale Still Life with Lantern.

A noticeable difference between a Cubist painting and Purist painting is the integrity of form, round shapes being displayed as a square.  By taking a step into the painting a world of depth and space became apparent.  The not so flat painting is a collection of forms that when being painting were placed on a table together.  It is this layering of forms from the front to back that provides the painting with depth.

The lantern is the largest and most prominent object in the still life and a great sense of space is conveyed with it.  By depicting the glass door of the lantern open it allowed for other objects to be placed in the empty space making a more intricate relationship between them.

Space is depicted in a more subtle way by making objects more opaque in order to show what may be occurring behind.  This can be seen with the large tea pot and the stout of it which is shown behind an object.

A collection of models have been made to further study and discover relationships between objects and space. Being able to visualize the three dimensionality of the painting is the key to understanding it.  After cutting countless pieces of chipboard and overloading my head with abstraction a successful understanding of the painting has been found.