Contrast and Tension: Themes that Reflect on the Human Condition

Contrast and Tension are needed in this world to create a robust human experience. Without these two elements, the emotional engagement would be considered lackluster and numbing entropy at worst. The feeling of contrast and tension within visual works can create a beautiful dynamic that helps us discover deeply through color, value, and symbols how these themes interplay within the experiences of our lives, causing beauty to be more fragrant and developed in our human experience. I am adding a sense of color and value balance to my works by establishing this contrast through limited complementary color palettes and dynamics between the bold and the delicate within values to create this experience visually.

As someone dedicated to the craft, I believe that as artists, we must consider how we can transmit symbolism in a way that deeply encodes curiosity and introspection upon observation. It isn't my goal to force literal meaning into the space, but to cultivate a willingness to "go there" and engage in a way that sparks a more profound curiosity and response to this phenomenon. It is my hope as I delve deeper not only into the physical aspects that art provides but the mathematical concepts of PSI and PHI as these are considered by some the reciprocity of beauty and decay, of outer lightness and inner void, the loud and the silent waves that speak to the beauty we seek and see, that we go into ourselves and dig deep into our inner workings to find reckonings, healing and inspiration to cultivate change and beauty in this world.

Phi and Psi (2025), 9 1/2" x 11", Graphite on Bristol, Sieva Smith