Transform transformation

DEFINITION

To transform is to change something in shape or appearance. Transformation is the act of doing this. Most definitions of art require that a substance or material be transformed in order for an artist produce to art.Quote: "Art is significant deformity." Roger Fry (1866-1934), British art critic. Quoted by Virginia Woolf in Roger Fry, ch. 8 (1940). See disfigure and distort. "There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot, but there are others who, thanks to their art and intelligence, transform a yellow spot into the sun." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. "An idea is a point of departure and no more. As soon as you elaborate it, it becomes transformed by thought." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Quoted in: Jaime Sabart?s, Picasso: portraits et souvenirs, chapter 7 (1946). "Art comes from art: I remember going to the Matisse show and seeing how Matisse had taken one of his own paintings, worked from it and transformed it, and that had led on to the next one and the next." Anthony Caro (1924-), English sculptor. See sculpture. "In fact, the idea of transformation was central to Picasso's art: He turned people into objects, and objects into stylized symbols. Women were carved up and reassembled, landscapes were turned into humanoid forms, noses and mouths were transformed into phalluses and vaginas. As Mr. [John] Richardson tells it, the Roman poet Ovid (whose masterpiece 'Metamorphosis' recounted tales of change and transformation as a metaphor for the chaotic, unpredictable nature of the world itself) 'had begun to exert a far more radical influence on Picasso's choice of theme and imagery than any contemporary poet.' " Michiko Kakutani (contemporary American book reviewer), in her review of John Richardson's biography, A Life of Picasso: the triumphant years, 1917-1932, NY: Knopf. See chaos, landscape, metaphor, stylize, and symbol. Also see anamorphosis, interdisciplinary, metamorphosis, and theater.