I've been painting a series of gouache color studies. Looking over my sketches of the past month, I naturally like some better than others. When asking myself the question, "Why?" It turns out there are three main qualities I am interested in:
- Control- Physical control of the medium. Marks should be clean and precise. Control is learned. Sloppy accidental appearances detract from the viewing experience.
The right mark
- Chaos- The world of water and gestures. You cannot quite imagine the outcome when chaos is present. This is an emotional force.
...because it makes no sense
- Logic- A compass and a ruler. Forms and colors that appeal to the mathematical mind. Logic is grounding, it guides the viewer through the artwork.
ABCDEFG...
Any one of these alone is not enough. Each of these should be used with restraint to make room for everything else. When an image has a balance of these three traits, it is successful. It turns out that these three qualities are important throughout my life, they always have been. They are important to every craft. Existence is a balance of Chaos, and Logic. Control of my craft allows me to share that.
Suddenly, with these thoughts the question of representational vs abstract art dissolves for me. On occasion I've been on either side of that fence. I've always felt that any mode of creation can be successful. Understanding this is helpful to me, while defining what I pursue as an artist.