Breaking the Rules

“Learn the rules like a pro, so you can break them like an artist.” ― Pablo Picasso.

 Prospectus for  “Breaking the Rules” exhibition April 2024. 

          Rightly so, most emerging artists and art students study the guidelines and principles, the hallowed “rules,” that help them learn to create art.  Artists learn the “rule of thirds,” “the golden ratio,” 2-D, 3-D,  linear, and atmospheric perspective, value structure, color theory, hard vs soft edges, proportions, etc.  Within these generalized terms are hundreds of “thou shalls” and “thou shall nots.”  Without these rules, artists would be left to reinvent the wheel over and over or slosh around in mediocrity forever.  They are as important to art as an artist’s paints, canvases and brushes.  But art is not just about technique and fundamentals and once an artist gains a certain level of proficiency, he/she comes to understand the reasons behind the rules and, on occasions, the justifications to break those rules. 

           This exhibition seeks submissions from artists who have knowingly broken a rule or rules to create their original art.  A short written explanation of what rule(s) the artist believes he/she broke and how or why this created a positive outcome in his/her work MUST accompany each submission.  Artwork submitted without an explanation will not be curated into this exhibition.

Curatorial Insights: Reflections on the Exhibition.

I was impressed with the quality and variety of entries into this exhibition. The statements given by the artists indicated that many of them gave mindful consideration to the reasons why they entered particular works into this “Breaking the Rules” exhibition. Some said that the theme had in some way broadened their perspective of art and I found that some of the artists broadened my perspective of the myriad ways to interpret the theme of breaking rules. My selection for the curator’s award is “Traveling together.” The artist spoke of his/her emotional journey in creating this piece. I loved the many layerings of paint and images that were used to great success, The human figure and dog while superficially imposed on the rest of the painting still tie all the pieces together into an inspirational whole. Sue Selvey