Creating a simple piece of artwork, to start out with that as the goal, could be considered minimalism. I don’t know the technical definition of that genre but, I suck at it. It’s hard for me to do ‘plain.’
I am detail oriented. I want to have “Easter eggs” in my artwork – the more people look at a piece, the more they see. Finished, is relative. I want to futz around with a piece, literally play with it. It’s hard to know when to stop … and I am equally bad at taking away.
But, I have to do it. There are too many moving parts, too many options for what I am capable of creating. This prevents me from creating a defining body of work that establishes my brand – both my art and me the artist. My overall aesthetic is in fact, evolving to a more ‘restricted palette’ to use a painting term. I need to continue this trend in the near term to baseline the brand. Doesn’t mean I can’t expand it down the road. It just means that, for now, I need to simplify.
I mean for crying out loud, Mark Rothko made paintings that were colored squares. I don’t have to go that far.