Analysis of Wheel of Fortune, by Audrey Flack

If the average person were to look at a work of art, they would notice the subject of the art and it is possible they would understand the meaning behind the piece. What an average viewer would rarely notice are the combined efforts of the elements and the principles of design. Wheel of Fortune, a painting by Audrey Flack that she painted in 1987, is an artwork that can be used to discuss the elements and principles of design. In discussing those elements and principles, a viewer can discover why it is that a painting makes them feel or think in a certain way.

One of the most important elements of design in Wheel of Fortune is the combination of horizontal, diagonal, and vertical lines. It is the repetition and combination of the three different types of lines that molds everything in the painting into the pattern of a wheel, a symbolic image of the piece. There is also an important and implied line in the piece that is the line of sight that skull has when looking at itself in the mirror directly across from it. Color is a very important element of design displayed in this painting. There are many different hues of what appears to be different high-key colors in the painting that are used to give it the appearance of reality, and the striking detail that Flack achieved using the colors definitely identifies the artwork as being realistic. The shapes in Wheel of Fortune are mostly organic, as they are mostly rounded, but there are some geometric and rectilinear shapes such as the square dice. It is through the shapes and colors in the painting that realistic textures such as that of the skull's teeth are able to be seen.

Many of the principles of design are also seen in the painting. Both unity and variety can be displayed in it; unity through the color scheme, and variety in the different objects that are in the "wheel". Rhythm and direction of the painting are shown in the wheel, and how the lines move from horizontal to diagonal to vertical then diagonal...