wildness vs. constraint

7x7 inch mixed media by Cynthia Berg, 2022

Wildness vs. constraint. This is what I’m interested in exploring in my art lately.

But when I think about it, wildness vs. constraint may be something I’ve been interested in my whole life.

When I was a child, I remember asking my mother a very serious question. Why must I be good all the time? Because occasionally, I just want to be free to break the rules. Why can’t I just be bad sometimes?

She laughed.

I never got an answer. I’m still trying to figure it out.

When I started making art in 2020, I noticed that a lot of artists online were pursuing the elusive ‘looseness’ in their work. They were after luscious texture and wild marks.

Freedom in artmaking isn’t easy. It’s fine to just do whatever on a piece of paper, but if you aren’t aware of what you’re doing, you can end up with a lot of mud and aimlessness.

Maybe even aimless mud has some artistic value. But I think most artists want to feel their art still has purpose and interest, even when it’s highly abstract and ‘loose’. Finding that balance is tricky and takes a lot of experimentation.

So I joined in the crusade for looseness.

And really enjoyed it - both the looseness of making it and the looseness of the resulting artwork. It’s messy and often breaks the rules. You get to forget about being ‘good all the time’ and just let go.

But recently, I started putting stronger, constrained shapes into my sketchbook. Just black and white shapes at first. I used a very sharp-edged square brush, wore my eyeglasses and really focused on good, clean lines.

I started looking for other artists doing this kind of thing. Many of them are muralists or graphic designers. One of them even makes paint by number kits in this style.

The compositions remind me a little of 1980s poster art (Nagel, Canetti).

I’m enjoying the shift quite a bit, but worry about losing touch with the more wild and loose artwork I’ve been chasing for two years.

And then it occurred to me that maybe I can do both!

Maybe I can take some time in wildness, use a variety of mediums, create texture, free marks. Then add the strong, constrained shapes on top. Or try some negative painting to pull the wildness INTO the shapes.

Isn’t just like me to want it all? LOL

What’s exciting about the work I’m doing lately is that I’m beginning to pull together some elements of artmaking that feel more like ME.

As a new artist, it can feel like you’re just copying for a time. You see something someone else creates and wonder how you might do that.

At some point, you refer to other people’s work a lot less. And the ideas that resonate start to rise to the surface all on their own. It begins to feel more like the art you are meant to create.

The artist may need to be four people.

Austin Kleon mentions Susan Sontag’s 1961 journal entry about how the writer must be four people: the nut, the moron, the stylist and the critic.

I think maybe this applies to painting as well. The practice is all about finding those people inside yourself and then giving them space and permission to take part. Hopefully, they can learn to play nice with each other.

I make art to connect with the creative, intuitive energy that often waits long stretches of time while I do all the responsible grownup things. So when the opportunity to play arrives, I tend to let her roam wherever she likes.

My art practice is a genuine ‘freedom practice’ that surfaced in 2020 at a time when I needed it most. I hope it inspires you to create a few messes of your own and discover the healing medicine of intuitive, creative play.