When
we moved into our villa, everything was white; the tiled floors, the walls, the
cupboards. Over the last few years, we watched the trends go from white to color and from pastel to
bright and bold. Through it all, we stoically held our own as we watched our
friends slather on reds, golds, teals, and yellows.
Our dark bold furnishings complimented our world of white. I did
admire the bright gleam of graceful white flowers and white woodwork against the
latest trending colors, but we stood firm on grounds of economics and the fact
that our walls were freshly painted when we moved in.
"Blending In" 11x14 acrylic on panel / in barnwood frame |
Trends have a way of reaching their peak. People tire of intensity
and they long for peace and non-distraction. Enter the new white; not only
exhibited on walls and cupboard doors, but in furnishings. The scuffed up
well-worn white of yesteryear has been replaced by shiny smooth. We’re back in
style! Vindication -- oh, sweet reprieve!
The same holds true for clothes. If you leave them
hanging in your closet long enough they will be back in style in a few short
years. What goes around does come around. The same holds true for art. Styles and
trends cycle; but if you go back far enough, you’ll find some of the same
trends with a slight twist.
Today’s trendy art boasts a large following of buyers. It
is hip, techie, and speaks to the young at heart. Ignore the trends if you
must, or climb on board and take advantage of the upswing; in either case, as
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said: “Passion, though a bad regulator, is a powerful
spring.”
But don’t let your heart or your eyes be fooled. Even
though art is trending free and wild, the successful still follow the tried and
true rules of color theory and composition. In fact, this is the very reason an
artist is able to get away with so much. Knowing what colors to use, how, and
when is the key to their popular draw. Rules of composition still apply, perhaps
even more so as the subjects and images become more outlandish.
Andy Warhol once said that “rules are meant to be broken.”
Knowing how to break them creatively and within the bounds of good art is
another matter. Once you know all the rules that govern art, then choosing
which one you will break for a given effect is not stupid, it’s creative
license.
My own journey has been one of trial and error. I’ve
always been a non-conformist of sorts, and my internal creativity screams at
sameness, blandness, duplication, or compliance with other people’s rules of
beauty or completeness.
We’re
told as artists that we should be “loose,” and that we should “fly.” But at the
same time, our journey is bound by strict compliance to certain codes of
behavior and performance. I don’t know about you, but I get confused. I’m
hoping something “clicks” sooner than later!
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