Megan Lloyd Exercise 7: 3D Analysis Paper “Fourth Family Decagon� by Monir Shahroudy Farmanfarmaian is one of several mirror pieces on display at the SCAD Museum of Art. This piece has a decagon base shape, and is composed of ten long appendages swirling around the base and out towards the middle. The piece is made from mirror placed over top a green and white painted surface, and is a large, frontal, and immobile installation; however, using rhythm, reflected lights, and activation of negative spaces it becomes a dynamic and full round composition. One of the several ways it achieves a dynamic quality is through rhythm. Overall the composition itself is very rhythmic, partially from the way the appendages move in unison around the frame, and particularly in the design of the glass. Upon closer inspection, the glass on each one makes small designs. On the sides, each mirror piece is triangularly shaped, and the space left between the pieces forms a zig-zag in the negative space. The negative space being the sparkly green and white colored painting beneath the glass surface. On the fronts of the are large diamond shapes in the glass leading from base to tip of each. However, one of the major qualities the artist emphasizes in the composition is the use of reflecting light. The hall the piece is installed in has very low lighting, and what lighting there is, is strategically placed to produce reflected light off the mirrors. By doing this, the reflections which this piece cast are displayed on the walls, floor, ceiling, and inside the piece. Allowing reflections of light to be cast, this piece which is by itself frontal, becomes compositionally full round. The wall opposite the installation is dark in color, because of this the light reflected shows up clearly. It is also through lighting and reflections that the piece becomes participatory. The mirrors show
a reflection of what is around them, this also includes the viewer. If a viewer were to stand in front of the piece with a colored shirt, the piece would not only reflect the color back in the mirrors, but the color of the lighting which is reflected would also change. In addition, when a viewer stands in proximity of the reflections, strings of light can be seen on the clothing of the viewer. As can be seen, the artist activates space with lighting largely throughout the composition. As said previously, the ten attachments swirl inward towards the middle and out. They do not reach the middle completely, instead a dark hole of approximately one foot in diameter is in the center. The depth of the piece is not as easily approximated as it is quite dark, however it can be guessed that it is a little over a foot from the back wall to the front of the piece. The overall perspective is a forced one, as the shapes of the attachments and movements of them paired with the lighting make the middle appear deeper than it is. The center of the piece in the back is speckled in light reflected by the large slabs of mirror coating the sides of the center. They stack like stairs along the sides of the interior, and catch a small amount of the artificial lighting in the hall. By coating the interior of the structure with slabs of mirror the otherwise dark space is activated, and more likely to catch the attention of a viewer. “Fourth Family Decagon� is a compositionally full round piece which uses rhythm, light, and activation of spaces to create a dynamic and fulfilling composition. It achieves rhythm through designs made in the glass, the piece also creates a full round composition through use of reflecting, and most of all, the artist activates space through use of light. Overall, the artist has exemplified use of rhythm, light, and space.