Modular art is a form of contemporary art that consists of a single repeating image or unit that is used to create a larger picture or three-dimensional piece. Because of its mathematically precise applications of proportion, this type of conceptual art has its roots in architecture. Modular art can use as simple as colored squares or as complex as a series of carved marble columns as visual or sculptural building blocks. Artists who make this type of generative art frequently aim to create an image or object that is distinct from the individual pieces that make it up.
Modules are generative art units that are used in repetitive patterns. A module for a two-dimensional piece of modular art is typically chosen based on mathematical laws like congruence and equivalence. Number theory is usually required for correctly fitting visual elements together so that color and shape proportions are balanced. Some modular artists start by assigning a number to each interlocking shape and then piecing the artwork together in the order in which the numbers are assigned. Some of the resulting patterns can be moved around without disrupting the balance, but others are less structurally and visually flexible.
When viewers look at a stationary image, some art movements employ modular art construction to create optical illusions of movement. For example, this visual effect can be achieved by precisely placing repeating curves in a uniform pattern. These works are frequently created with the intention of demonstrating that art is fluid and evolving rather than static and unchangeable. Many of these works are also created using serial art principles, which give meaning to the entire unit rather than its individual components.
Some types of modular art were included in the minimalist art movement of the 1960s as a collective expression of the visual possibilities of endless repetition. Simple colored panels interlocked together in a way that suggested the same pattern could keep regenerating itself into infinity were used in some of the earlier art pieces from this time period. Similar concepts were incorporated into large-scale sculptural works that artists would sketch out on paper but then delegate to others to complete. These forms of modular art frequently reflected postmodernist attitudes toward mass production and uniformity, which can be found in many aspects of modern life.