The visual arts are basically art forms like painting, drawing, sculpting, photography, film, and computer animation. Various artistic fields like acting, performing arts, creative writing, literature, multimedia, and photographic arts also incorporate parts of visual art. Visual artworks usually refer to those works that exhibit human interaction in a visual format. In this article, we will discuss different concepts related to visual art and its uses.

Understanding visual arts

The word ‘visual’ can have many meanings. For instance, ‘looking at nature’ and ‘seeing the colors of the rainbow’ are all ways in which we can speak about seeing the subject matter through the eye. Visual art basically deals with using the eyes to perceive physical reality, and it, therefore, draws its reference from the world around us. Visual art is used to create an emotional reaction and thus involves different methods of creativity.

Color scheme

The term ‘Color Scheme’ refers to the overall composition of the work. The most common color schemes in visual artworks are normally found in the Western Art Deco style, which can be easily recognized in works by artists such as Frank Stella and Andy Warhol. Such color schemes generally consist of primary colors, such as red, yellow and blue.

Visual rhythm

‘Visual Rhythm’ refers to the recurring patterns in art elements like colors, lines, shapes and textures. A visual rhythm is usually found in objects, like a flower’s petals, or in the motion of a flowing river. Art historians refer to a visual rhythm as ‘time signature,’ where certain patterns in art elements repeat over again in a piece of art. The repetition of certain visual rhythms makes them appear ‘springy’ and ‘uniform.’

Content

‘Content’ refers to the visual components of an artwork. The content may consist of colors, lines, shapes, images or other forms. The most common content of an artwork is the subject matter, which may be anything from a photograph to a painting to a work of art. The content may also include items that have been placed within the artwork, for example, pebbles or rocks, although other objects cannot be included in an artwork.

Context

An element of art that describes the relationship between an artist and his or her subject matter is called a context. There are many different types of contexts found in modern-day art, such as the represented world, the representational, the abstract, the figure-ground, the symmetrical, the rhythmic, and so on.

Wrapping up

Drawing and painting are amongst the oldest forms of visual arts and are therefore also among the oldest forms of art. Artistic drawing and paintings emerged in prehistoric times, possibly dating back to Paleolithic times. In prehistoric times, people would use natural stones and plants as mediums. Stone carving and other forms of stone art evolved from primitive stone tools that were discovered in archeological excavations. Artistic drawings and paintings developed from the skills of ancient people over time.