FaithQuest 2011_5

I’m a big fan of Minimalist art.  It’s called that because, well, there is often very little there.  Have you ever heard the phrase ‘Less is More’?  It comes from Minimalist art. The idea is that you maximize the effect with as little means as possible.  I think it makes it more difficult, really.  It’s easy to just keep adding stuff to a painting to make it ‘work.’  But to just have one or two shapes, and/or one or two colors- and create a powerful effect is difficult. 

A lot of it has to do with placement.  Think of it this way.  You ever been bowling?  Say you throw your bowling ball and it makes a bee-line for the gutter.  There’s no point in even watching – you just throw your hands up in the air, turn around and forget about it.  But say it’s really close.  It’s inching for the gutter but it also has a slight curve and it just might hit that one pin on the side that you need.  All of a sudden without realizing it you are making strange movements with your body, awkwardly leaning over to encourage the ball to curve more, miss the gutter, and hit the pin.  The placement of the ball in relation to the gutter and the pin creates a physical sensation in you; prompting you to make ‘sympathetic’ movements to exert influence or control over the ball.

That’s what Minimal art is all about- not really illustrating something but trying to create an almost physical sensation within the viewer.  That’s what I’ve attempted to do here, only in a slightly illustrative mode as well. 

The wall of Jericho is falling.  I reduced it down- minimized it, if you will- to just black shapes on a yellow background.  But the proportion/size of the painting, the relationship of the wall pieces to the edge of the painting, the physical density of the yellow and the black- all are enlisted to give the sensation of this wall falling seemingly for no reason at all.  There is nothing pushing, pulling, or crashing into it. 

God is making the wall fall.  I hope you feel it.