Point

The Concept of Point

In art, a point is a dot or mark, so small that although it can be seen, its shape cannot be distinguished clearly. Points of light, shade and colour make up much of our visual environment, sometimes singly, but more often in groups making textures and patterns. Familiar examples include grains of sand looked at closely, pebbles on a beach or leaves on a tree seen from further away, houses on a distant hillside and stars which are very great distances from us. Comparing these examples is worthwhile because it shows the importance of scale and distance in what we see. Whether a particular object is seen as a point or as a shape or form depends both on its size ...