Complex simplicity.

I was looking through some of my old work from the early college days today. It is so interesting to me to look back at things from the past. It is the best way in which to measure change, if it can be measured at all. As a young art student, I had this pre-conceived notion that “level of difficulty” equaled what was artistic. I remember even sitting down to complete an assigned project and thinking to myself “the harder I make it look like it was to do, the more impressive it will become.” I really wanted my teachers and peers to have visual evidence of much time spent. Oh the thought process of a complete and total amateur. By going over the top and in ridiculous detail with my projects the more my style and creativity was lost. My inner competitive beast would rear his ugly head and I would completely lose sight of why I was there in the first place. Luckily, the older I became, and the more my inspirational professors would teach me, I quickly would outgrow this misconception. While precision and technique are very important in the art-world, they do not rival the importance of true originality. For instance, comparing the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel to a Jackson Pollack painting: one is far more detailed and on a much grander (literally) scale. One might argue that Pollocks work is nothing but splatters of random color, while Michelangelo painted with such precision. They are simply incomparable, of course, and while very different they both contain high doses of originality. Believe me, I am not in any way demeaning the genius and artistry of the Sistene Chapel, but I am saying that difficulty doesn’t always have to be the route taken. Take Mark Rothko, (Rothkowitz- one of my favorite artists) for instance. His entire body of work consisted of abstract color block. To the untrained eye, they could look even elementary in their simplicity. That is the essence of their beauty. When looking at his repertoire, they are unmistakably his. They look like no other work. A collection of true finger prints in art history. That is what it’s all about, folks.

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