A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They have a current exhibition that juxtaposes Georgia O’Keefe’s work with Henry Moore’s. Click here to see:

While O’Keefe is American and Moore is British, they both experimented with taking items from the natural world and portraying them in the abstract: O’Keefe through painting and Moore, primarily through public sculptures. They lived around the same time. (late 1800s-late 1900s) Their philosophy about art was similar and their artistic lives in essence were parallel. It was interesting to have their work and lives juxtaposed.

One of the ideas that both experimented with was the idea of negative space. You can really see that with Moore’s work. Negative space or the empty space around and between the subject. Negative space is not made up of artwork, medium or anything else. It is important, sometimes more important that what is conveyed. It is the negative space that sets off and explains the visible work.

As today is New Year’s Day, I’ve been thinking about new beginnings, goals and the idea of making changes. Most years, at the new year, we think of adding some positive change into our lives- proactive goals and resolutions. Yet I’ve been thinking about negative space: absences that set off the items. What if today, we didn’t make any positive resolutions but rather negative ones- things we won’t do this year?

“This year, I won’t ….. “(fill in the blank). “This year I won’t ingest too many sweets, drink too much alcohol. This year I won’t binge watch any shows, or stay up later than I planned. This year I won’t be sucked into another’s drama, or be belittled by another person’s pettiness. This year I won’t be afraid of what other people think of me. This year I won’t be held under by someone else’s expectations.”

This year, can I say no to something so that it frees me up to have space for something else? Can I say no to something that uses my time or resources in order to say yes to something I want to do? Would having that space allow me to enjoy something that I am already doing but never have time or resources to enjoy? By saying no and enjoying “negative space” as it were, would I be creating a new way to look at my circumstances, much like Henry Moore’s sculptures and the use of negative space?

Saying no- to others and even to ourselves is hard. On one hand saying no is denying something- an action, idea, or item. Saying no might upset someone or displease them and most people, I think, want to please others. But what if saying no really is a yes for something else: feeling more life satisfaction, spending more time with family and friends, completing an important task, focusing on one’s purpose. What if saying no or not doing some action or feeling, allows the (yes) positive action or feeling to finally occur?

What about you? What things can/should you say no to? Would that free you up to say yes to something else? What won’t you do in the new year?

Michelangelo has said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

What superfluous things are in your life that need to be chipped away?

Happy New Year.

Have you ever thought about the composition of music or art? What distinguishes it from anything else? Recently I was reminded through an example in a Sunday sermon.

If you think about it- what makes music, music? It it the rests or the pauses between notes. If you didn’t have them, you would have continual sound not a musical phrase. It would just be noise.

That example made me think of sculpture. It is not so much of what you see, but what you do not that defines the piece.

Michelangelo said that with his sculptures he was just freeing the image within the marble. "The idea is there locked inside. All you have to do is remove the excess stone." Pieces of marble must be carved away, leaving a “pause” or space so that the image shines forth.

I really needed those examples this week. I needed to be reminded that in order to be effective, pausing is important. If I do not find rest in and from my activities, I will just be one continual noise.

Some situations I need to allow the negative space to be discovered; space where nothing is happening, yet without the nothingness, nothing can happen. The more stress I am under, the harder it is for me to wait: wait for responses to inquiries, wait for situations to resolve, wait to do the next project. Under stress I feel that there is not a minute to waste and that I have to be “busy” every second of the day. I forget that if I do not put pauses into my daily life, then life becomes one giant blur of activity with nothing being remembered or enjoyed.

I am reminded that lately I have not “rested” between one demand of my time to another. I find that if I go back to back with no down time, I become cranky at best and a downright meanie at worst. When I do not have pauses, I become the noise- continually complaining and getting down on myself for not protecting some resting time.

I know that I am in a season of life where some things just have to be done and some responsibilities are present. But, like they say with saving money- you have to pay yourself first. I have to make a priority to protect the pause time that I need to be able to go forward. If I want to make some significant or distinction from all the noise, I need those pauses.

I also realize that when I do not give myself rest, I am not capable of looking beyond the negative space to see the light or image through it. When I am stressed, my positive attitude becomes horrid. My attitude blocks any light shining through me. I become incapable of seeing any image or joy within the block of my endeavors.

What about you? Do you have a pause button for your daily lifestyle? Do you strike it? Or does it need to be reset? When you eliminate the negative spaces, does that allow the light to shine through?

What positive (in the) negative space or rests do you find?

No Resolutions

The Positive Negative