Two Further Explorations in the Metamorphosis - Simplicity Through Complexity

The next - and for the time being the final - stage in the Seminar is this:

This is a truly fascinating form. The concept is very simple: if you run a ruler from one side of the square to the opposite side closely along/touching the top surface of the form, the line immediately beneath the ruler should be completely straight, i.e. there should be no dips or bulges in the clay surface - of course you're holding the ruler at the same angle as the gradient of the clay form. Using the fourth image (the one immediately above) for this explanation, with the ruler placed on the edge of the near side, the left side of the ruler being lower than the right side as it sits on the clay form, as the ruler moves across to the far side it gradually changes angle and the left side rises up to be higher than the right - a beautiful movement to watch through the air.
The tiny line that runs across the very centre of the square should be the only level horizontal line in the entire form. The tipping point is minute, invisible to the naked eye.
This form took me hours to create, simply because it requires very meticulous adding and taking away of tiny amounts of clay to achieve lines that don't dip or bulge anywhere.
I love the simplicity, the serenity of this form; it sits there quietly, but there is a huge amount going on;
simplicity through complexity. It also has that 'universal' element I've referred to previously, the almost mathematical dimension.


I've then taken this a step further - this was not part of the Seminar as such, just a personal exploration. How would this work if, instead of one plane moving at a pivoting slant as above, you have three? If you have two, top and bottom - which was in fact the proposed next stage in the Seminar - you would need to make the difference in level between the high and the low at the edge of the square slant at a very steep gradient to make for an interesting form - otherwise you get something like a slightly bent-out-of-shape tile - and you would have to go against the fundamental principle of the line immediately beneath the ruler being completely straight, i.e. no dips or bulges in the clay surface, otherwise you would end up with a very cumbersome, heavy form (but very elegant if you allow the sweep down through the dip in the middle to go deep).
I wondered whether three sides might lead to an interesting form. As you can see below, it achieves an interesting twist ... and you can enjoy the stretch of the moving plane three times over!

This form needs some more work to refine it further, but I wanted to include these images as I feel they complete the process. Not a form I would simply want to 'scale-up', i.e. take this as a true maquette, but certainly a concept that is important to have in one's repertoire of sculptural language, as elements of it will emerge in future pieces.

SIMPLICITY THROUGH COMPLEXITY.