Tom R. Chambers
PANHANDLE CIRCLE-SQUARE
​
This project focuses on the circle-square crop configurations in the Texas Panhandle (Google Earth).
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
​
Scholars during the Medieval Period believed that there was something "divine" or "perfect" about the circle. The farmers of today in the Texas Panhandle believe in the practicality and efficiency of the circle via the utilization of center pivot irrigation of their crops.
​
The "Earth canvases" (Found Art) above are a testament to the farmers' intuitive nature and mathematical skill of working with the dynamics of the circle and within the confines of a square (plot of land) to irrigate their crops. What's interesting is when these circle-square configurations are viewed as aerial landscapes (similar to "Aeropaintings" ["Futurism"]), they rival the works of some non-objective artists.
​
The artist Kazimir Malevich (founder of Suprematism [non-objective approach to making art]) viewed the aerial landscape as a new and radical paradigm in the art of the Twentieth Century. In his mind, aerial photography had created a broad change in consciousness. Much of his work was inspired by or derived from aerial landscapes.
​
Piet Mondrian, Wassily Kandinsky and other artists worked towards an "objectless state". They became interested in creating an "inner" object. They used the universal shapes (spatial elements) found in geometry such as the circle, square and triangle. Like color, they were perceived as a part of the fundamental system underlying visible reality.
​
Many of the artists in Russia became Constuctivists believing that art was life itself. They thought that the artist must become a technician, learning to use the tools and materials of modern production. Again what's interesting about the above aerial (satellite) photographs (courtesy of Google Earth) is that the farmers as technicians with their tools and materials of modern production have become artists (non-objective/geometric abstractionist).
​
Kandinsky, one of the forerunners of pure non-objective painting, was among the first modern artists to explore this geometric approach. As mentioned, Malevich, Mondrian and others embraced this approach. Kandinsky claimed that the circle was the most peaceful shape, and represented the human soul. (Wikipedia)
​
So, "Panhandle Circle-square" can be viewed as geometric, non-representational or non-objective art. It includes squares, circles and other "Land Art" (inverse), along with colors. As a form of "aeropainting", it offers changes in perspective that constitute new realities that have nothing to do with a terrestrial perspective. And in the words of the Futurist Movement (1929 Manifesto), the above Earth canvases are a "vision of Cosmic projection, a reverie of aerial fantasy, and an aeronautical documentary (mechanistic)."
​
According to the Abstract painter, Kenneth Noland, "The circle is a much more satisfying form than others. It is related to the Cosmos. The square is architectural. The circle stands for eternity - no beginning and no end - and since antiquity, has been symbolic of natural phenomenon, organic growth, mysticism and divinity."
​
