Shape

Shapes varie in style, size and kind.

They can be used as elements in a composition, a pattern or a texture. They can be parts of a whole or the whole in it self. Here are examples of the various kinds of shapes artists may use:

Geometric shapes are usually man-made, such as triangle, rectangle, circle, etc.
Organic shapes are found in nature and are usually defined by an eregular asymmetrical border.
Figurative shapes represent a real object or person and can be clearly associated with a specific realistic image
Non-Figurative shapes are symbolic and do not represent something specific. They can be a symbol, a representation, or an abstraction of an idea, or an object.

Diego Rivera, The Flower Carrier

Figurative Shapes

Wassily Kandinsky, Yellow, Red and Blue

Non figurative shapes

Pablo Picasso, Still Life with Mandolin and Guitar, 1924

Geometric and organic shapes

Interchanging lines, colors, patterns and textures, that switch from geometric to freehand, dark to light, positive to negative and plain to patterned, advance and recede in rhythms across the picture plain.

Pablo Picasso and Georges Braque conceived and developed Cubism, the first abstract art form, but other artists also adopted the style.

Georgia O’Keeffe, Yellow Orchid,

Organic Shapes