In every art form, balance is an important compositional concept. The next time you examine a painting or listen to a piece of music consider its balance. In the visual arts symmetry, merely mirroring objects along an axis, is the most basic and easiest way to achieve balance. However, if art is supposed to reflect life, then it rarely, if ever, should be symmetrical. Symmetry is too simplistic, does not require much imagination and reduces balance to a one-dimensional formula.
Balancing a complex composition, like life, requires consideration, knowledge, awareness and skill. It takes time, experience, wisdom and a willingness to forego one’s immediate impulses to maintain a lasting harmony. In life, our individual needs and churning circumstances make finding balance an imperfect process that involves continual recalibration.
The naïve notion of symmetry does not resonate with my personal life experiences. Take my body, for example. Yes, I have two legs and two arms and so on. However, I write and throw with my right hand, which has developed muscles on one side of my body that are less developed than the other side. I part my hair to one side. One of my eyes is slightly bigger and sees better than the other, and one of my ears is more sensitive than the other. I have had more cavities in the right side of my mouth where I prefer to chew my food. I am told that my heart, liver and several other internal organs are not centered in my body.
Injuries over the years have given me a slight asymmetry in the way I move. I could continue, but I trust you get the point.
As a result of these and many more observations I believe that pure symmetry only exists as an abstract idea and never truly plays out in our physical world. I do, however, perceive balance … everything seeks an equilibrium. So, I am compelled to explore compositional balance through asymmetry. The work shown here is an example of this pursuit. The activity, engagement and energy on the right side of this compositional investigation are balanced by the rest, calm and stillness on the left. The weight of the colors and fragmented forms on the right are balanced by the lightness and stability of the field on the left. The vertical white lines and voids are balanced by the more horizonal lines and voids. In life and art there is a time and moment for everything, so we should spend the bulk of our effort attempting to curate an asymmetric balance.
I really like that composition David! Are there any versions of that available at a Vegas gallery? I’m coming up tomorrow to drop a friend off at Harry Reid and will spend a little time running around up there….seems like you might have a show at Savidan?