Smaller scale, same impact?
Natural Texture Meets Clean Lines, acrylic on canvas, 20 × 16 inches
Red and Pink Live Together, acrylic on canvas, 20 × 16 inches
04.06.2025
Over the last few weeks I have began 6 smaller paintings as part of the Walking in the City (Venice) series. Up to this point all of the paintings have been fairly large, 48 x 36 inches, but this little group is 20 x 16 inches. There are a couple of reasons I decided to reduce the scale for some of the work in this series. First, there are several of the 40+ studies/potential compositions that are less complex, meaning that the scale of the painting could be reduced and the visual impact wouldn’t suffer. Second, when I secure a large space in order to exhibit a larger number of works from this series, I think having a variety of sizes will be helpful. And lastly, I had the 20 inch and 16 inch stretcher bars ready to go and didn’t have a definitive plan on where to use them, so sometimes there’s practical considerations with the materials that weigh in.
The main challenge I have found with scaling down is maintaining balance between the positive and negative space within the composition. With the larger scale I find that I can be more dramatic with this spatial contrast, whereas with the smaller scale I have to be more careful to not overload the space with positive areas in order to leave room for the negative space. In the two examples shown here, I also considered how much “background” to include. The first (Natural Texture Meets Clean Lines) includes a section of “sky” and the second (Red and Pink Live Together) focuses more on the structure of the objects themselves being collaged together. Because there is less surface area, I am also discovering the importance of the edge and how much the painting does or doesn’t wrap around the side.
I’m enjoy this new evolution in this ongoing body of work. When all 6 are complete and photographed I plan on reaching out to galleries with a proposal. My goal is still to show this work one day in Venice, but also considering additional domestic venues.
