Balance II 1967

Edward Landon’s Balance II presents a stark arrangement of black and white triangles, evoking a sense of precarious equilibrium. The image uses geometry to explore balance, a theme resonant with the anxieties of modernity. Triangles, throughout history, have symbolized a myriad of concepts. Upward-pointing, they suggest aspiration and fire; inverted, they represent water and the feminine. Here, these forms are destabilized, stacked in a way that defies architectural logic. One is reminded of the precarious arrangements in Cubist compositions, reflecting a world fractured and reassembled through subjective experience. Consider the ancient Greek use of the plumb bob—a weight suspended on a line—to ensure true verticality in architecture. Landon’s “Balance II” inverts this principle, challenging our innate sense of order. The interplay of light and shadow, the tension between stasis and movement, stir deep within us, echoing our own search for balance in an ever-shifting world. Like a recurring dream, it resurfaces, transformed yet familiar, a testament to our unending quest for equilibrium.