VOLUTE —Constraining the Bulging Square
Category: Architectonic Painting
Medium: Acrylic on dyed linen, structured by architectonic wooden frames
Dimensions: W 118.5 × H 128.5 × D 16.5 cm
Year of Execution: 2024
Form-Giving Conditions
Typological:
Space (in)Tension | Constraining Structure | Tensioned Membrane | Dynamic Equilibrium | Constitutive Void
Particular:
Bulge and Constraint | Pressure and Containment
Cold Bionomy of Geometry | Organless Body of Skeleton and Skin | Disquieting Strangeness | Tensile Sensuality | Dry Humour
Elliptic Square | Twin Depression | Volute | Double Spiral
Unpainted Finish | Single-Colour Painted Finish | High-Gloss Finish
Concept Description
VOLUTE stages geometry as an organic presence through bulge, constraint and contained pressure.
The work couples two interdependent membrane structures: an Elliptic Square with twin depressions derived from elliptic geometry, and a Volute, a double-spiral form recalling both Ionic capitals and natural spiral formations such as shells. The Elliptic Square appears to swell outward, while the Volute holds it from both sides; the bulge becomes legible through constraint, and constraint gains force from the pressure it contains.
The red dyed linen of the Elliptic Square remains unpainted, allowing its colour and woven texture to intensify the depth, contour and outward pressure of these depressions. By contrast, the Volute receives a single-colour painted finish in glossy black, sharpening the opposition between soft expansion and rigid containment.
Geometry is not rendered organic through metaphor or ornament. In VOLUTE, this organicity takes form as Space (in)Tension within a structural condition of reciprocal pressure between the swelling Elliptic Square and the constraining Volute, giving rise to a cold bionomy of geometry—an organless body of skeleton and skin in which disquieting strangeness, tensile sensuality and dry humour are inseparable.