17: "Point Symmetry: Geometric Mystery Via Albers' Explorations" by Orin Buck (Wednesday, July 22)

We are most familiar with the symmetry of our bodies: A line divides our center, and a mirror image reflects our self, so the right side looks like the left in reverse. Or the higher level rotational symmetry of the snowflake. But there is a more elementary symmetry: Point Symmetry. That is the symmetry of playing cards and the sign for Pisces. Every point is mirrored on any line that intersects the center point. The symbol for yin/yang has modified point symmetry: every black point is mirrored by a white point.

"The symmetry that is the least talked about is point symmetry even though it can be spotted everywhere in the world around you, however. Point symmetry is a special subset of rotational symmetry. In other words, any figure that has point symmetry has rotational symmetry. However, any figure with rotational symmetry does not necessarily have point symmetry."
teachersnetwork.org/dcs/math/symmetry/Point/

Once you know what point symmetry is, it's easy to spot it in Alber's geometric work.

Other examples:
http://www.artnet.com/artwork/425905804/588/never-before-a.html
http://www.barbarakrakowgallery.com/contentmgr/showdetails.php/id/5363
These are not strict point symmetry—you can see asymmetries in both of these examples. But the symmetry is dominant.

Thirty years ago I played endlessly with geometric drawings using point symmetry. I loved the way this symmetry subverted gravity: Which way is up? Also, it is a way of relating to the picture plane that takes you away from landscapes and traditional ways of seeing. It takes you into the mystery of what is a picture, and what do artists seek in their endless explorations within a rectangle.

Then a few years ago I realized that a simple operation in Photoshop could create point symmetry with real-world materials. The same operation can be done to video as well. After I began the current series of point symmetry works I found that there is a Japanese artist who has already produced a great body of work with this method (pallalink.net). But Josef Albers was the first artist I know of who worked extensively in this area.

Click on the links below to see some of my work. Also, here.

Light Dreams 5 (exerpt) from Orin Buck on Vimeo.