sculpture and architecture relationship

Since the early 1980s, due to the prosperity of society and the need of urban construction, urban modern environmental sculpture has flourished in China. Modern environmental sculpture has improved people's living environment. While beautifying the city and embellishing the living space, it also plays an important role in psychological adjustment, visual adjustment and architectural space adjustment. It also reflects the cultural taste and connotation of the city to a certain extent, It plays an increasingly important role in modern life.

1、 The concept and development background of modern environmental sculpture

The modern environmental sculpture is different from the artist's creation sculpture, which is an independent artistic creation behavior that the artist is not affected by objective environmental factors and is not limited by the additional conditions of "service object". Modern environmental sculpture is an artistic creation that takes sculpture into account with the surrounding architectural environment, regional culture, and social history. It is an artistic activity that combines the concept of artistic creation with urban living space. Therefore, if a successful sculpture is placed in a certain place in the city without considering the surrounding buildings, environment and city context, it may not be a good modern environmental sculpture.

After the Industrial Revolution, modern architecture has changed the appearance of cities, people's lifestyle, and human living environment. But after World War II, especially after the 1960s, with the development of economy and the improvement of material life, the demand for spiritual life has also been growing, and people have also put forward new requirements for architecture and architectural environment. In addition to providing space for people to live, work and play, buildings should also meet people's visual requirements and enjoyment, and reflect more human ignorance. The development of social economy may also provide a material basis for this requirement. The emergence of a large number of modern public buildings, such as airports, railway stations and commercial centers, provides a stage for modern environmental sculpture.

In the 1960s, the United States government formulated a public art outline, stipulating that 1% of the construction cost of new public buildings must be used for the construction of public works of art. Generally, architects propose ideas for the selection of points and forms of environmental sculpture based on the concept of environmental design, and nominate at least three artists they think are suitable to undertake the design work. The local federal government entrusts museum experts and art critics to form a group, and then the group selects artists and work plans. If necessary, it can also propose to the architect the overall changes of the buildings and works of art. In this way, it not only solves the problems of construction funds and site setting, but also achieves the multiple effects of urban environmental beautification and art popularization.

The development of science and technology and modern art has broadened the creative means of modern environmental sculpture, such as dynamic art, visual illusion art, electronic technology, light and shadow and sound effects have also been cited in the works of modern environmental sculpture. It not only injects new vitality into environmental sculpture, but also makes the traditional static sculpture "live". Although the public has various differences, such as cultural level, professional background, artistic taste, appreciation level, etc., they all have common requirements for a beautiful and pleasant social environment. Those environmental sculptures that live with people day and night cultivate people's mood and regulate people's tense life. Some of them will be unconsciously regarded as the symbol of their own home, causing nostalgia and deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Perhaps most citizens do not necessarily understand the meaning of many abstract modern environmental sculptures, but they do not deny that modern environmental sculptures can help change the environment.

At the beginning of the 1980s in China, environmental sculpture, as a means of beautifying the city, was valued. After more than 20 years of development, many excellent environmental sculptures have emerged. Recently, the Shanghai Municipal Government has put forward four levels of sculpture landscape construction: "one vertical, two horizontal, three rings, and multiple centers". Shanghai will build 5000 new environmental sculptures by 2020. These new sculptures will cover four major topics: art and culture, historical context, folk life, and international cultural exchange. In terms of the construction system, Shanghai will change the previous practice that all urban sculptures are arranged by the administrative organs, and comprehensively introduce the internationally advanced urban sculpture art planner system. Shanghai will usher in a new era of prosperity and construction of environmental sculpture.

2、 The relationship between modern environmental sculpture and architectural space

Due to the diversity of the interior space of the building or the outdoor square space and street space, the relationship between the modern environmental sculpture and the building space it is in is also diverse. In order to make positive and active contact with the surrounding architectural space and become an organic whole, it plays the role of extending space, dividing space and adjusting space.

1. Extension space

Environmental sculpture has the characteristics of three-dimensional space structure, plane space structure and linear space structure. They all have directionality, while the latter is the strongest. When people are looking at environmental sculpture, people's eyes will move with the momentum and shape of the sculpture, and people's minds will associate with the expression conveyed by environmental sculpture. The posture of the sculpture in the National Pavilion of Barcelona Exhibition Hall plays a role in extending the space and guiding the direction of the flow of people. The Endless Column is made to commemorate the Romanian soldiers who died in the battle along the Kivu River in the First World War in 1916. It is also known as Infinite Appreciation. The linear sculpture of the statue leads people's vision and grief to the endless sky.

2. Space division

The environmental sculpture existing in the indoor or outdoor space of the building has actually played a role in dividing the building space into two areas and participating in the organization of building functions; At the same time, its division of the monotonous, indifferent and empty space formed by the gray and dark materials of modern building steel and cement can increase the sense of hierarchy or far-reaching vision, or produce a certain sense of mystery and dramatic effect.

3. Adjusting space and building composition

People are always used to measuring everything by themselves. As a result, the scale of things is given an emotional meaning. The scale suitable for human activities is regarded as the scale close to people, while the scale unsuitable for human activities is regarded as the scale not close to people or not human. The space formed by modern large buildings is designed according to their use functions, and the scale of these large buildings is not suitable for people's psychology of ordinary activities, such as large factory buildings, traffic ports, viaducts, parking lots, etc. Their scale is not the scale of people, but the scale of machines and vehicles. Therefore, setting up some environmental sculptures similar to human scale in such building environment can adjust the space, make the scale of the building environment more affinity, and make the environment more intimate and humane. Picasso's sculpture "The Woman and the Hound" in the distance of the Civic Center Plaza in Chicago, USA, uses steel plate as the sculpture material. The shape is simple and clear. The two rows of steel cables and curved steel plates form a sense of emptiness, which enriches the spatial relationship of the work. More importantly, in the square space, the height difference between people and the surrounding 32-storey buildings is too great, and sculpture plays a role in adjusting the space, adjusting the relationship between people and buildings. In the hard and cold modern buildings, it is alive, it can communicate with people emotionally, giving people a sense of intimacy.

Modern environmental sculpture and architecture present a kind of relationship between the map and the background, which is different from the relationship of stage scenery. It is not only to ensure that the sculpture has the best visual image in a certain main viewing angle and viewing distance, but also more concerned about the route and range of users' regular activities, with good continuity and diversity of vision and viewing distance. For human vision, the presentation of any object requires an appropriate background, and is affected and restricted by this background. The same visual object will present different styles on different backgrounds.

(1) The background sets off the sculpture

Things are different from each other and are the basis for people to recognize and grasp. When two different things are juxtaposed, their respective characteristics will be more prominent and purified. In order to make the sculpture easier to see and recognize, the differences between architecture and sculpture in texture, color, light and shade, direction and complexity of image can be used to set off the sculpture. In this way, architecture and sculpture complement each other, and the whole environment will also be lively and lively. When Henry Moore designed the sculpture for the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, UNESCO initially asked Moore to use bronze materials, but Moore realized that "bronze is dark outdoors, while the background of the sculpture is almost glass, and the color is also dark, and the window and the sculpture are in the same tone, so people can't see the sculpture in the distance", so finally Moore decided to choose light-colored stone - the material that the architect has used for the top of the building, So sculpture and architecture are both connected and not submerged.

(2) The frame view of architecture to sculpture

During the activities in the building environment, we often see the sculpture through the missing holes such as the door opening and window opening, so as to experience a sculpture image with a frame. The inner boundary of the door opening and window opening provides a picture frame for the sculptor interface. The sculpture in the picture frame may be the whole or part of the sculpture, but in any case, we should try to create a good image effect.

(3) Regulation of environmental sculpture on architectural composition

Seeking a certain balance is a common fact when people experience things. Every field of psychological activity tends to be the most balanced organizational state. Sculpture is often used in architectural composition to achieve the balance of texture, color, light and shade, direction, hardness and softness, yin and yang, and other forces. This balance of forces is the balance of people's feelings and the weakening of a certain powerful force. At the entrance of the East Gallery of the Washington Art Museum, Moore's sculpture can be seen as the weight to achieve the balance of gravity in the architectural composition. At the same time, the curve of the sculpture is broken and weakened for the whole strong straight line, thus achieving the balance of rigidity and softness.

3、 Modeling characteristics and trends of modern environmental sculpture

Similar to the trend of architectural development in recent years, the creation and development of modern environmental sculpture has also shown a trend of diversification. Artists have their own abilities, and their works are varied, some abstract, some concrete and realistic. To sum up, it has the following characteristics;

1. Abstract

In recent years, modern environmental sculptures tend to be abstract non-themed sculptures. These works do not reproduce life, but form artistic images through certain body shape, proportion, scale, color and texture, express the relationship between space and material, express the vitality of the body, express some abstract thoughts and feelings, or use symbols to express the so-called internal and external conceptual world, thus enhancing the artistic atmosphere of architectural space. Henry Moore, the master of modern British sculpture, stressed the need to find a "simple and direct image" in the world of material and form, and believed that the "subconscious world" was the most free and powerful source of creative ideas. It emphasizes the sincerity of materials, and believes that each material has its own personality and life, and has a subtle emotional language suitable for a certain body. Strive for innovation in the concept of space, deny the limited static space of the classical tradition, and create constantly changing and interchangeable space relations. Void and entity have the same important modeling significance. In terms of body treatment, we strive to cause the change of "force" and make it have an inherent sense of movement. One of the abstract techniques is to subjectively summarize, simplify and strengthen the abstract of the objective form, such as Henry Moore's famous bronze sculpture "The Emperor and the Queen", which is located on a vast rock in Scotland. The second method of abstraction is the abstraction of geometric forms, that is, the use of point, line, surface and light color and other formal symbols to form a variety of forms. Like the notes in music to form melody and sound, the geometric abstract form does not have images, but has spiritual emotions, and people can also feel its appearance and life. This kind of abstract sculpture can easily echo the abstract spirit of architecture and the physical characteristics of points, lines and planes. In addition, according to the requirements of architecture and space environment, there is greater freedom in the selection of shape, material texture and color, so it has been widely used in recent years. The sculpture "Six Isogons" in front of the federal government office building in Fenxter, New York, is connected with six equal trapezoidal lead plates. The rectangular space at each angle has an axis of forces that intersect diagonally. When the viewer walks around it to watch, the virtual and real feelings of the form constantly change, producing a sense of balance.

2. Dynamic

Artists are not satisfied with the static state of the body. They use modern science and technology or natural power to create environmental sculpture works that are active, and even have the effect of sound, air flow, light and color changes, so that people can have new interest and experience in it. The bronze sculpture "Strength and Agility" on the Grand Rapids Square was welcomed by the masses. People can ride in a cradle hung by a copper cable. The author said that his works should work in the fifth sense. The sculpture "The Reeds", composed of flexible pipes, is located on the pool in a commercial center. The pipes vibrate and sway in the breeze to produce sound and stir up microwaves in the calm pool surface.

3. Various material textures

The materials of modern environmental sculpture have broken the traditional field, and almost any other materials are used except the commonly used metal, stone and wood. Especially the sculptures in the interior space are free, from broken rope and rags to illusions of light and shadow, which can be used as sculpture materials and means. The sculpture "27 Prisms" at the staircase of the Lincoln Court Building in Nebraska, the United States, uses three special point light sources and a hidden skylight to directly face several prisms hanging on the ceiling, so that it refracts various light colors and shines on the ground and wall from different directions. The light color shape changes with the walking angle of the viewer, and the effect is strange. The author calls it "transparent geometric sculpture".