Feeling Left Out?

We artists all revel in taking our duly-earned "artistic license" - whether we are working from life, from photos, or (for the more intrepid among us) from something we dreamed up in our heads.  We constantly edit as we work, leaving things out, adding things that aren't there, changing and rearranging. These edits may be for compositional reasons ("the chair in this photo is at a very awkward angle and is blocking the figure I'm focusing on - leaving it out"); emotional reasons ("this type of flower brings back powerful painful memories of someone in my past...not going to paint it"); or even physical reasons ("I am physically incapable of painting these hands. They are going behind this figure's back!").

For the current juried show at the gallery, aptly titled "Left Out," artists were challenged to submit works of art in which they left out certain aspects of - or added to - the original from which they were working. It made for a very varied and compelling show. Take, for instance, our 2nd Place winner by Mary Ryder, a piece in carbon titled "An Innocent Man" at right. Scary, yes? That was Mary's point. Her edits fell into the "emotional reasons" category.

Says the artist of the piece:  "As this painting progressed, I was deliberate about omitting features and items that would connect us somehow to the figure - forcing the viewer to focus on the face, which is quite obviously haunting. Looking at something 'nice' is easy...looking at something disquieting is more challenging. He is 'an innocent man,' yet some are still quick to presume some sort of maleficence or guilt because of his appearance. Isn't it just as likely that he has suffered some tragedy or injustice? Perhaps it is the viewer's empathy,compassion, and humanity that has also been left out."

Artist Judith Landry left things out of her oil painting "Umbrian Way," at left, for compositional reasons.  Says Judith about her choices: "In this Umbrian street scene, I deleted unnecessary details, such as an unattractive red stop sign and street grates and gutters, in order to simplify the composition. I also eliminated several people standing in doorways, to create the impression of solitude and to draw the viewer's eye into the painting by focusing on the old woman walking down the street."

Most art buyers are probably unaware that the finished piece they have purchased is the result of constant, ongoing decisions on the part of the artist, and may differ significantly from the way the piece started. Leaving out is all part of the creative process!

--Sandi Parker, Gallery Underground Co-Director