Express Your Inmost Self Through Expressionism



Posted: Thursday, May 13, 2010

by Peter Dranitsin
Petes Original Art Inc.

Expressionism may be thought to hark back to the ways of the more ancient world, before the Renaissance methods of da Vinci's linear perspective studies made realism their primary goal. When we think of expressionism, we delve into the mind's eye of the abstract artist, which perceives the most important part of our shared world, the things that are nearest and dearest to our hearts: a bright red rose on our favorite plant in the garden, for example. When an artist emphasizes the bright red rose, he ignores the leaves framing it; they are not his primary focus and he may distort them or leave them off entirely, or perhaps use one or two as a mere suggestion of greenery.

The brightness of sunlight on the red rose may blind the artist to the intricate details of the petals, and we see portrayed only a shimmering shape of red, enough to distill the essence of the flower. The medieval or Byzantine use of perspective can be used, in that the most important figure is the largest; for instance, a king may dwarf anyone else in the painting, regardless of his distance from the viewer of the painting. These inner workings of the mind, in that what is subjectively important to the artist is the largest or given the most attention, is contrary to realism. It begs the philosophical question of what is real, and what is truer to the spirit of art. The expressionist artist conveys through his work what is the most important thing in the world to him at the moment of creating a piece of art. A medieval artist portraying a religious subject, for instance, portrays a spiritual rather than a physical reality. A modern-day expressionist artist does the same.

Expressionism is often thought of as portraying dark subjects or moods, as the mind of the artist may be thought of as deep and dark, with winding trails of thoughts meandering ever onward through convoluted pathways. It is true that the further inward the artist travels inside his own head, the further away from the outside light he may be thought of as going. But what if what is inside the artist's head is light and of a happier nature? Then abstract expressionism may be used, in which the colors chosen may be from the warm segment of the color wheel, for instance a light yellow that almost becomes white, as in the works of Jane Frank. Her Crags and Crevices from 1962 utilizes the lighter tones and thus creates a lighter mood, as her landscape portrays shapes that seem to hover midair, as if the viewer himself is hovering over the canvas' depiction of rocks and stone shapes.

From the innermost landscapes of the artistic soul comes expressionism, utilizing the dropped colors of a Jackson Pollock in a fantastically new way to paint on canvas or the aerial views of a Jane Frank with her minimalist views of landscapes, the decorator of your home will find a range of subjects and color choices from which to select an artistic piece for your wall. It is up to you which mood you want to portray, somber or happy, light or dark. The artists in the expressionism school will meet you halfway.

Peter Dranitsin is a self taught and self representing artist. He grew up in the family where his mother a professional artist and his father a professional photographer. To learn more about expressionism please visit my online art gallery at http://www.petesoriginalart.com.
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