The greatest artists are all Taoists at heart
rene sans
It means that you don't force things where they cannot go.
You can build a sturdy bridge without static calculations:
You just take more of everything. It will look like a dam
with holes in it, but it's probably stable - unless it
collapses under its own weight.
The true artist knows his materials.
He knows what to use where,
what strains they take,
how they bend,
when they break,
how much moisture they stand, etc.
and builds his work by accommodating them.
Instead of bending his steel girders to follow the nice sweep
he has on his papers, he modifies his drawings until they look
good with straight girders.
For the bridge engineer, Taoism is obvious.
He has no choice. If his structure is unnatural it breaks.
The painter takes a while to get there.
She'll work uncounted hours to force her material to show
exactly what she has in mind, even if it means working with
a one hair brush and a magnifying glass to get the details right.
Compare the early work and the late production of any master,
Velasquez, Frans Hals, Rembrandt, Goya: You will see the same thing.
At first they work out every detail with tiny brushes. Every bit of
lace has been traced to a T. Do that for decades and you get
seriously bored. It starts feeling stupid, because it is.
Now look at a lace collar painted by a master in his sixties.
It's done with a half inch brush and heavy gobs of paint.
Step away ten feet and it looks perfect. Fluffy and natural.
How the heck did he do it?
He listened to his material. He let it be itself and express
itself naturally while guiding it just that bit to make it
say what he wanted.
~~
rene sans '
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