The versatile line
A pioneer of the line was an icon of the Futurist movement, Italian-born Giacomo Balla. His key aim was to depict movement, light, and speed in his works but unlike other futurists of the time who heavily focused on industrial scenes, Balla focused on more light-hearted, recognisable everyday scenes. To depict this movement, Balla used lines as a tool to depict the movement in motion and his pieces were brought to life by this. In his oil painting, ‘Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash’ (1912) we see a small black dog whose tail and feet have multiple lines of movement, as the lines are depicted darker and lighter, thicker and thinner, we begin to immediately imagine the movement of the fast excitable legs of the dog and it’s wagging tail on its walk. Similarly, we can spy the owner’s feet – who have the same technique applied – clarifying the movement of the two on a walk together. In another sketch and study, ‘Speed of a Motorcycle (study)’ (1913) we see big bold black lines in an arc pattern depicting the sheer speed of a passing motorcycle. This in combination with directional lines underneath helps to build a picture of where the motorcycle was moving and how fast – we feel the whole speed of the bike without even seeing it purely through Balla’s use of linework.
In a very different way to Balla, American Artist Dan Flavin was also famous for his use of line. However, this form of the line was more static and framed – in the form of fluorescent lights. His fluorescent light installations were made with ‘any commercial colour of lighting that was available’ and were minimalist in approach but powerfully took over the presence of the space in which they were exhibited. In ‘untitled (to Don Judd, colourist) 1-5’ (1987) we see brightly coloured and spaced apart rainbow spectrum fluorescent tubes in T formats in a white cube gallery space. Not only do these lines illuminate and frame the space they are in in a new way with their reflections but they direct the viewer’s eye among the T formations in a way which is simultaneously confrontational but calm and still. Similarly in ‘Untitled (to Sonja)’ (1969) two horizontal pairs of fluorescent lights forming shapes that resemble ladders lead the viewer’s eyes in a direction towards the back of the room and frame the cube space in which they sit within.
Its clear from both of these artist’s works that line is perhaps the most underrated, overlooked but powerful tool for an artist to be conscious of. Really understanding the impact a line can have means artists like Balla can make the two-dimensional feel three-dimensional and artists like Flavin can make a three-dimensional space feel more mapped and two-dimensional. The versatility of a line, even though static can represent the formation of a whole new environment, movement or space.