Rick Rodstrom
Rick Rodstrom | |
|---|---|
| Residence | Los Angeles, CA, United States |
| Nationality | American |
| Known for | Art & Science |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Art, Art theory |
Rick Rodstrom is an American artist and art theorist based in Los Angeles, California, known for his work bridging Art & Science through an analytical approach to visual composition that he calls "NOPO," or the Science of Art.
Biography
Rodstrom was born and raised in New York City, where he attended the High School of Music and Art and later New York University. Over the course of his career as a painter he has exhibited in gallery shows in Manhattan, Queens, New Jersey, and Los Angeles, where he is now based.
Work
Rodstrom is the author of a framework he terms "NOPO Art & Science," presented as a masterclass on the Science of Art. The approach seeks to describe the principles underlying pictorial composition in analytical terms. A central concept is the "Nodal Point," the reference point around which a composition is organized.
His theory distinguishes between geometric and organic approaches to picture-making. In the geometric approach, a scene is depicted from a single viewpoint, framed in space and fixed in time. In the organic approach, marks are rendered to create relationships that guide the viewer's eye across the picture plane according to principles he identifies as Direction, Speed, and Weight, with each additional mark altering the equilibrium of the composition.