Balancing Acts
A flower inspired mandala like arrangement of canes shows symmetry and radial balance, including symmetrically mirrored canes, in this piece by Jana Roberts Benzon.
Us humans really like things to be logical, have purpose, and be in balance with the world as we know it. We are constantly assessing what we are looking at so that we automatically recognize when things aren’t quite right. A lack of visual balance in artwork is one of those things that we readily recognize even if we can’t verbalize why we know that.
What we are identifying is dissonance in the use and distribution of the elements of the design. Visual balance is about how elements in the various sections of the artwork play off each other, achieving a comfortable visual equilibrium or, if it is discordant, an intention to make us uncomfortable. This is all rooted in what we call visual weight.
The Concept of Visual Weight
Visual weight is wrapped up in our perception of weight as we know it in our physical world as well as the emphasis or importance of each element. We assign a heavier visual weight to elements that we either perceive as being heavier or that have more visually dominant characteristics than the other elements they are arranged with.
For instance, with all other characteristics being equal, larger elements appear to weigh more than smaller elements (because in the physical world larger versions of an item do weigh more.) The same is true for black or dark elements which look heavier than white or light elements, possibly because we associate white and light colors with fluffy things like clouds and cotton and dark things with heavy stuff like mud and iron.
In other cases, the element that has more of an attention grabbing characteristic such as largeness, energy, or colorful-ness, will appear to have more visual weight. Busy, energetic textures grab our attention more readily than sparse or smooth textures. Brighter or richer colors draw the eye more insistently than lighter or muted tones.
This balancing of characteristics is why a small red dot can feel like it has as much visual weight as a large gray circle. The bright, attention grabbing red dot has more color weight, so to speak, while the large circle has more perceived weight due to its size and, so, they can balance each other out as they do here, evenly placed on the canvas.
Now, let’s take the concept of visual weight and think about how it can be applied to the types of visual balance in art.
Types of Visual Balance
There are 3 types of balance in visual art: Symmetrical Balance (including Radial Balance), Asymmetrical Balance, and Discordant Balance. Their names are pretty self-explanatory but let’s take a look at how each works.
Symmetrical Balance
Symmetrical balance simply means that the different sides or sections of the artwork mirror the elements and/or arrangement of the elements from one side to the other with the sides or sections evenly split.
This is quite common in jewelry, especially necklaces, earrings (especially when considering the pair), belts, and other adornment where the two sides of the piece mirror each other, split on the central vertical line of the body upon which it will be worn.
Symmetrical balance can be achieved around a single point as well. This is often referred to as Radial Balance. A kaleidoscope cane is an example of symmetrical and radial balance, as are flowers, mandalas, and wheels. The opening image hits symmetrical balance in a few different ways as noted in the caption.
This polymer and wood pin by Margaret Polcawich creates asymmetrical balance through varied placement on a central line that we recognize as the points the forms would need to touch on so as not to fall over.
Asymmetrical Balance
This polymer and wood pin by Margaret Polcawich creates asymmetrical balance by varied placement but on a central line that we recognize as the points at which the forms, if loose, would need to touch on so as not to fall over.
In the sides or sections of an asymmetrically balanced composition, the visual emphasis and/or placement of elements are varied, as may be the size or shape of the sections. So, although not alike, all sides or sections feel balanced by the give and take of our perception of weight or visual emphasis.
There is another cool application of asymmetrical balance has to do with where things are placed in a composition. I like to think of it as the teeter totter effect. The farther out an object is from a central position (like the fulcrum of teeter totter), the more force it exerts as if it weighs more the further out it gets. The closer to the center, the less force it exerts and therefore the less weight it seems to have.
Because we have an inherent understanding of how to balance a teeter tooter (even if not a conscious one), visually we see it the same way. Place a visually heavy object closer to the center and a visually lighter object farther away and they will contribute to an asymmetrical but balanced composition.
Ford and Forlano use discordant balance just within reach of our comfort limit, further mitigated by the presence of their playful intent.
Discordant Balance
A discordant balance means that there is little or no even distribution of visual weight. This type of balance can make people uncomfortable, which may be desired if your subject matter is uncomfortable and you want people to feel that, but it can also quite effectively convey a sense of motion or action.
So, that’s the concept of balance in art. Not too heavy, was it? We will come back to balance a lot as we explore upcoming concepts in the next few weeks but for now, just take notice of the way elements are balanced in the artwork and designs you see day to day. From the symmetry of the Christmas ornaments to the asymmetry of a holiday card to the discordant balance of your studio table, balance is everywhere!
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In Unrelated News …
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