Lightness in art

Lately, I’ve been reflecting on the intensity and heaviness of my artworks. While I’ve always embraced the emotional depth in my creations, I recently attended an exhibition that opened my eyes to a different perspective. I was fascinated by how some artworks felt so light and airy, yet still conveyed profound meaning. This experience sparked a thought: could I lighten my own work while still expressing my ideas?

As I reflect on the idea of lightness in my own work, I find myself drawing parallels with the ideas I’m exploring in my research on Mark Rothko. Rothko's use of color and form often evokes a sense of weightlessness despite the emotional gravity embedded in his paintings. His abstract compositions, though often built from heavy, saturated colours, manage to convey a certain openness and ethereal quality. In my research, I’ve been particularly struck by his belief in the ability of colour to evoke pure emotion without the need for representational imagery. This insight has encouraged me to reconsider how I might balance lightness and depth in my own paintings—perhaps creating moments of space and breath within my more intense compositions, much like Rothko did with his iconic, luminous fields of colour. The concept of lightness in art intrigues me. It doesn’t necessarily mean sacrificing depth or emotion; instead, it offers a chance to explore new dimensions in my creative process. By allowing my work to become more fluid and less constrained, I believe I can not only create a sense of space but also potentially speed up my painting process.

One approach I’m considering is to divide my larger concepts into multiple smaller paintings. Instead of pouring every thought and emotion into a single piece, I can spread those ideas across several works. This not only gives each painting its own space to breathe but also creates a cohesive series that explores a central theme from different angles.

I know maybe the painting at the top is not the best example of a light artwork but I was trying my best to make it lighter. I thought I've finished this artwork, but it just didn't feel right to me. So I decided to change it recently. I spend days and days trying to figure it out until it started to look the way it looks now. It's not straightforward lightness but it does feel a lot lighter for me. Maybe because there is a lot of movement and it's not grounded. It feels like a comet flying in the space. Obviously a comet is a very heavy thing but it's flying so fast that it doesn't have practical weight. I want to work more on lightness and to reflect more on lightness in art in general.