Painting with a Twist: How Breaking the Rules on Canvas Keeps Art Alive
~ Aparajita Chatterjee
Thinking outside the box in painting isn’t just rejecting the standard norms. It’s like crafting a conversation between the artist, his creation, and the audience. This defiance, which makes the painting remain ever-evolving and relevant, may be called painting with a twist.
“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” ~ Pablo Picasso
Painting may have its own set of rules and conventions, like any other art form. But rules are meant to be broken. Especially when it’s about breaking the rules in painting, artists have always dared to break them to create their most iconic works in history. This article explicitly explores the idea of lawlessness in painting. Its sole intention is to discover painting as a silent yet powerful tool of reform. The tool challenges and changes the norms and keeps the art alive.
Art is undoubtedly a powerful platform for self-expression, societal commentary, and breaking stereotypes. Paintings serve as a medium for the artist to channel his thoughts, feelings, and critiques into an essential visual form. But when the artist decides to break the rules and push the traditional boundaries, he breathes new life into the canvas.
The beauty of art lies in the fact that it can take any shape or be interpreted in various ways and still become a great way of expressing something, without using any such rules.
The Fire beneath the Canvas
When a painting tends to break the rules, it doesn’t always have to do anything with the painting’s technical aspects. It can be more, it can rather be about the tension and emotion being the driving force. This tension often stems from a passion for challenging the rules, to shake the idea of what is “acceptable”, and coming up with some extraordinary painting ideas.
The fire beneath the canvas, or the tension behind the painting, is an invisible driving force for the narrative. It doesn’t always necessarily take shape in some vivid and bold conflicts. The subtle interplay of elements in an artwork often accomplishes the mission. It may be the interaction of the light with the shadow, the color contrasts, or a simple never-seen-before space arrangement. All these elements contribute to the painting’s mood, emotion, and tension.
Breaking away from familiar techniques and expectations facilitates the artist’s amplifying of the tension. Ignoring the set perspectives or violating the rules of proportion may result in a unique sense of discomfort or unease. It will challenge the viewers to dive deeply into the painting. Painting with a twist, in this context, acts as a catalyst for generating further compelling artwork with the help of emotional and intellectual friction.
Well, you are allowed to break the rules only when you know them and are breaking them for a purpose. In the early 1900 surrealist Pablo Picasso first learned the standard rules of classical painting and achieved mastery of the genre. When he knew he wanted to paint and what exactly he wanted to paint. Rules are there to guide us when we lack a better idea. In reality, inspiring and innovative ideas come only from breaking the rules.
Lawlessness in Art: Not Just Smashing Things Up
Lawlessness in painting does not always mean painting chaotic and abstract pieces. Art historians, institutions and critics set laws. An artist with a revolutionary mind questions the fabric of what it takes to make a good or valuable painting. Breaking the rules is not just about creating a new sensation in the form of artwork; it’s about challenging the status quo.
Inventory painting ideas often involve a quiet, delicate, and nuanced form of rebellion. Some famous rebels in the painting may have introduced dramatic techniques or extreme gestures. But not all artists bring lawlessness loudly and aggressively. The most silent refusal of established concepts and techniques can create the most profound impact.
For instance, abstract expressionists rejected the traditional emphasis on realism in paintings. They didn’t actually distort reality—they just redefined the notion of what art could mean. They started an inward and outward rebellion, breaking free from representational art. This rebellion was a calm and composed rejection of standard norms, and it paved the way for questioning and reimagining the purpose of painting.
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This silent lawlessness forces us to reconsider the idea of the acceptable and the possible, making us think about what art can become.
Like any other art form, painting has conventional ways of expression. However, the rich history of art has shown us that breaking traditions has allowed artists to produce exceptional pieces.
For instance, artists like Maynard Dixon and John Singer Sargent have broken the rules, but not randomly but thoughtfully. They planned the risk-taking deliberately to demonstrate the importance of creative thinking in art and beyond.
Picasso’s “Girl with Mandolin” is a fantastic example of breaking the rules in painting while maintaining a unique sense of balance of color and elements.
However, artists break the rules, as they should, to bring their originality to the artwork. Every artist who has broken the rules so far is different from each other in terms of challenging the norms. M.C. Escher was an artist who focused on the illusion of perspective to bring lawlessness to art.
Not Just Screaming—Whispering Can Be Just as Disruptive
Painting with a twist suggests the power of subtle subversions and tiny twists. For example, an artist might use unorthodox materials to create a piece of art that is both strange and familiar. Or, he might experiment with techniques to create spontaneity and uncertainty.
The artists who became famous for breaking the rules in painting introduced small yet significant deviations. Some examples are subtle transformations in the color palette, unprecedented distortions in form, or changes in spatial relationships.
The Impressionists didn’t ever reject any standard perspective or familiar color. They just approached these tools in a way they had never been approached before. Their purpose was to gently nudge the boundaries of perception, showing us countless ways of interpreting reality. They forced us to look at the world differently through a new lens.
Such subtlety fuels the idea that whispering can be as disruptive as screaming. Quiet subversions can show magic in painting.
John Singer Sargent was excellent at drawing the viewers’ attention to key elements of paintings. One of his paintings has a red mark on the bottom of the canvas. It might look strange, but the red spot becomes eye-catching enough to pull the audience into his canvas. Also, he places his other elements in a circular pattern, such as people and shadows. All these are rule-breaking methods to lead the viewer around the scene and make each element connect to each other.
Breaking the rules doesn’t always need to be dramatic. It’s enough to take some risk with the artist’s style or make a decision that ignores one of the customary ways. Marcel Duchamp has given new directions to contemporary art.
When Painting Stops Being Art and Starts Being Journalism
The result of bringing lawlessness to art is multi-dimensional. A painting can become an ideal form of journalism. It’s like a convincing way of documenting the world, expressing certain views on socio-political issues, and engaging people in useful and significant conversations. The painting then doesn’t restrict itself to an aesthetically pleasing piece of art; it becomes a tool for social and personal commentary.
Painting, with its lawlessness, can excel in mere aesthetic pursuit. It evolved into journalism, as we have seen on several occasions throughout history. Several artists have utilized their artwork to comment on socioeconomic injustice, war, and human suffering. Stepping outside certain constraints present in formalism and realism, they offer a voice to the voiceless and challenge the predominant narratives.
In his efforts to break the traditions of painting, the artist often tends to tell a more complex and more immediate story. This story may reflect contemporary happenings—immediate and pressing. An artist’s brush becomes a tool to convey emotions and stories otherwise overshadowed or ignored by the orthodox media.
Think of how Picasso’s Guernica defies artistic norms and serves as a powerful form of political commentary. In breaking the rules of perspective, form, and even color, Picasso transcended the conventions of traditional painting to deliver a potent visual message about the horrors of war.
Art, since its early age has been a valuable means of resistance. It has played a crucial role in challenging social norms and bringing revolutionary phenomena to society. Be it as a resistance against oppression or a means of telling a story of the marginalized, Art has served us all the time. It has become a form of protest, a therapy for hilling and a silent yet powerful advocate for socio-political and economic justice. Art is used as a reflection of the society.
Lawlessness Saved Painting—By Keeping It about Painting
However, it’s also important to consider the core principles of painting. Ultimately, painting is an expression of emotions and a means of communication. An artist should anyway honor those core principles. It’s equally important to maintain the essence of what painting is at its core, with the canvas, brushstrokes and the paints—timeless elements connecting artists to the traditions and the viewers. Understanding and respecting the principles make an artist break the rules meaningfully and push something new without losing its essence.
Breaking the rules does not necessarily mean discarding tradition; it’s just pushing the boundaries. But staying true to the artistic spirit is elementary. Having said this, we can actually presume that this very lawlessness has allowed the painting to remain grounded in its core principles, even as it evolves into something entirely new.
Breaking the rules is about doing that in a painting’s composition, narration, and perspective. Picasso broke the rules of perspective and vital depth and proportion. His Les Demoiselles d’Avignon from 1907 makes the painting with a twist visible.
Édouard Manet, a classically trained painter, introduced many oddities in his famous “dejeuner sur l’herbe” painting and invited a big scandal. The painting has a naked woman sitting beside two well-dressed men and looking directly at the audience, ignoring everything around her. There is another woman in the background who is not only out of proportion but also unclear in her role in the scene. The artist tends to break the rules of proportion and narration in the piece to participate in the much-needed evolution of art.
The Artist’s Inner Racketeer: Keeping the Soul from Drying Up
So, what inspires an artist to challenge the norms and develop exceptional painting ideas? It’s their inner racketeer – the voice with an urge to take risks, explore, and experiment to an impossibly possible extent. This inner racketeer keeps the art alive and never lets it become stagnant.
At the heart of every great artist lies an inner racketeer—the part of the artist that seeks to rebel against the conventional, that refuses to play by the expected rules. This racketeer drives the artist to twist, reject, and challenge established norms, ensuring that painting never becomes stagnant.
For an artist, breaking the art is the result of an ardent inner feel to keep the art alive. The racketeer in the artist is addicted to reinventing art to keep it from becoming predictable and transform it into a medium of reactions and expressions to contemporary concerns.
Maynard Dixon painted huge landscapes to make the audience feel themselves to be small while they look at the paintings. Dixon used diagonal lines, instead of horizontal lines as per the norm, to guide the viewers. This subtle twist made his paintings more alive and energetic, both pretty and full of personality.
The history of art has seen numerous examples of artists intentionally and intuitively challenging the norms to create breakthrough works. The audience may not have taken those new painting ideas well, but eventually, those works opened new possibilities.
French painter Edgar Degas had let photography influence his compositions. He broke the rules to make his paintings look like snapshots rather than balanced compositions, which added a sense of freshness and spontaneity to his art.
Final Thought – Art Was Never Meant to Behave
From Picasso to Van Gough, Sargent, and Dixon, the artists who brought this rebellion proved that painting with a twist was very useful in making their pieces of artwork stand out.
The lawless spirit keeps the art and the artist from dying. Here, the dying of an artist doesn’t refer to his physical death, but to the idea that an artist is dead when his art has nothing new to offer. Art needs to remain fresh, exciting, and relevant forever. Throughout history, artists have taken the responsibility to keep the very spirit of art alive by challenging the artistic norms.
The rebellious steps taken by artists like Picasso were never appreciated at their times. The paintings became controversial, as they were very new to people. Picasso had to hide his Les Demoiselles d’Avignon painting for seven years before exhibiting it. But, challenging the fixed rules in art has become usual in our eyes, as it’s common to break them nowadays. Francis Bacon followed Picasso’s innovative duel perspective in painting, and Matisse was another painter who broke the rules of perspective. The “Harmony in Red” has no sense of depth, each element in the painting seems to have been situated on the same plane. This unconventional effect is created by dark outlines, bold patterns and colors.
Artists like Claude Monet existed to break the rules in art only. Monet is the artist of Impressionism. He used bigger strokes of paint to produce his desired “Impression”.
Indranil Banerjee is an artist who is more concerned with the fire beneath the canvas, rather than the colors, the techniques and the brushstrokes. He tends to dig deeper beyond the surface of a painting. An artist is meant to feel the energy behind the paint and the force that pushes it into existence. He is supposed to explore beyond the beauty or composition of a painting and strive for It’s about what’s lurking underneath. Indranil has successfully captured the genuine essence of paintings, which, according to him, is the violence, the tension, and the untamed chaos that makes a painting more than just a pretty picture. Artist Indranil Banerjee, like few other contemporary artists, is comprehensively exploring the idea of painting with a twist.
