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Form refers to three-dimensional shapes that have length, width and depth. In fact, Forms are three-dimensional. They take up space. You can hold them, and walk around them. A sculptor uses Form three-dimensionally. However, a painter or illustrator has to create the 'illusion' of Form in their works. Let's explore just how Form is created and manipulated in art.
This is a Greek bas-relief . The images are carved from a slab of marble, but they are not carved out completely. This type of low-relief sculpture was very popular on ancient building walls and were used to decorate doorways, facades and columns.
This is a detail of the statue David created by Michelangelo. The complete sculpture, called a statue, stands 15 feet tall.
When you visit the statue, you are able to walk around the sculpture seeing it from all sides and angles. This is truly a three-dimensional work.

Michelangelo Buonoratti (Italian ) 1475-1564, David, 1501-1504, 15 feet, Marble, Galleria dell'Accademia,Italy

  

Cathedral of Notre Dame, Paris,France		 This magnificent building is an architectural sculpture. Architecture is the art of designing buildings. Buildings are examples of works that occupy three-dimensional space. It took almost 200 years to complete the building begun in 1163.

Alexander Calder (British) 1898-1977, Mobile, 1957
Steel plate, rods, and paint, 300"x 540" x 204"
The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey
 Here we are looking at another type of three-dimensional sculpture called a mobile. This is a sculpture that moves. Suspended from the ceiling, this mobile moves slowly as air currents circle the room. Alexander Calder is credited with inventing the mobile as an art form.

George Seurat (French) 1859-1891, A Sunday on La Grande Jatte, 1884-86, Oil on canvas, 207 x 308 cm., Art Institute of Chicago

Seurat creates the illusion of three-dimensional form by adding value to his colors. The darker areas emphasize the shaded shaping of the figures in this painting. This tricks the viewer's eye into seeing Form.The figures look three-dimensional.


Sandy Skoglund (American) b.1946, Radioactive Cats,1980, Chicken wire and plaster cats, furniture, live models
 

This is an example of an installation project. Skoglund sets up a three dimensional setting, often using live models. The cats and other animals portrayed in these interesting installations are sculpted by the artists. Once the installation is set up, Skoglund photographs the set.

This project was called "Radioactive Cats". The cats are wire and plaster sculptured forms. The furniture and walls are actual pieces painted a drab gray. The people are real people posing. The artist used many different types of forms to create this mixed-media work. Mixed-media refers to the use of more than one material to create the work of art.

 

Using Value To Create Form (Studio Activity)
Creating A Paper Strip Sculpture (Studio Activity)
Solving The Skoglund Mysteries (Print and Complete)