more than meets the eye

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Art provokes emotion. A perfect rendering of an inviting bouquet of flowers elicits happiness and the seductive curves of a temptress extracts your deepest suppressions. Childhood monsters creep on your forgotten fears and a monochromatic canvas creates doubt.

crab sideThe emotions of each piece begin with the creator. The artist plants an idea deep in their mind where feelings connected with the root idea soon grow. Strong emotions begin to animate. Eventually the walls which keep these emotions within can no longer house the maturing creativity. This is when an idea, and the connected emotions, explodes into the outside world.

What can the transferred emotions tell you about the state of the artist when they created the piece? Many factors can show hints of the emotional state. A dark and gloomy pallet of contrasting hues might hint at an internal struggle. A smooth flow of organic shapes might express content and an unbalanced canvas of unrelated objects might translate confusion, pain and unrest. Sloppy and unrefined brushstrokes might suggest anger and sometimes the artist might just feel a bit crabby.

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Think of a piece of art you recently interacted with. What emotional state do you think the artist was in when they created it?


Email all thoughts, stories and photos to theartist (at) snyderartdesign.com