Even if you stand still, there is movement in your body. You muscles work hard to balance out the weight that cascades from your head to your toes.
Gravity has to go somewhere, and everything that is affected by it has to divvy it out equally amongst each area of its form, or it’ll fall over.
Gravity will have its way, even at the expense of your dignity.
For me the destruction of life is not in an explosion, but in stagnation. It is straight lines, parallel to each other, never touching, going nowhere.
There are no straight lines in life, everything operates on one curve or another, often intersecting and transferring force this way and that. There is always movement, and always a direction.
For me that’s the whole point. That’s the secret sauce.
The kind of art I’ve always been attracted to contains this sorcery. And it spans across all genres and themes.
I remember when I was 14 and my family and I went to the Van Gogh Museum in The Netherlands. Before that point, I loved drawing and art, but something happened within those walls that blew my mind in the best possible way.
I saw in Van Gogh this ability to see movement in even the most static of things. The world was this swirling, simmering whirlpool of activity and force.
His paintings revealed a kind of restless spirit trying to capture the constant motion of the world around it, and with a forceful, determined brushstroke no less.
I bet he was a nightmare to hang out with.
There are other artists too who have caught my eye for the same reason: Cyril Power, Egon Schiele, Matisse, Eyvind Earle, Sergio Toppi, Umberto Boccioni, Frank Frazetta, Duilio Cambellotti, Alphonse Mucha and more.
I’ve seen it across so many genres - from the fine art impressionists and the Futurists, all the way to animators and comic book artists.
At first I berated myself for such an eclectic mix of inspirations - I couldn’t clearly point to what it was that linked them all for me.
Then I took a course on figure drawing by an animator called Michael Mattesi, and I realised exactly what it was.
It was (drum roll please)... force, balance, and movement. The constant drama between gravity and form that reveals the energetic essence of life.
I realised I had an itch to try to capture that life. If we can point to anything that we might call ‘divine’ I believe that is where it is.
And where better to find this than nature? In the elegant curve of falling petals, the sweeping bend of a waist and pelvis, or the gracious arc of a heron’s neck.
In the end, it is in this constant motion that we find balance, and it is in that balance that I think we can find beauty.
And there’s not enough celebration of beauty these days, in my mind. So join me in some of mine.
Find all my art prints here to buy, or email me at ruth@ruthiart.com if you'd like to share any thoughts with me. I'm always up for a chat!
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