Imagine a clear blue sky with snow-white fluffy clouds, a spacious green lawn and a calm wind that affectionately embraces you with its breath. Everything is so clear and simple. You are not thinking about anything and just enjoying a moment of complete harmony and inner peace. Sounds fantastic, doesn't it?
If you have ever really rested on the seashore, in the mountains, in a local park or just in your comfortable room, have you ever thought that being happy is really very simple? How nevertheless, little is needed for a person to feel good. There is nothing complicated in life, we are constantly confusing everything. Unnecessary things, empty words, insignificant thoughts - all this is a dead weight lying around us, preventing us from living. But how to get rid of this ballast of the past? To understand how to do this, let's talk a little about art, because art is also an instrument of personal growth. It always inspires reflection, helps to cope with your problems and just gives a good mood.
Living simply is like being a minimalist artist. They always cherish their artistic means and strive to depict geometric shapes and neutral colors. You can think about what to draw for a month. For days to wait for the muse and for years to bring out every detail, constantly changing colors and objects on the canvas, or you can just make a few strokes, bring out one figure and get an easy and understandable picture that will attract the viewer's attention with its straightforwardness and give it a feeling of complete understanding with yourself and the world. Also in life, when we go on vacation, we collect a huge suitcase of all kinds of things: we take three spare swimsuits, and also a dress that will fit the color of the walls in the hotel and one more, in case it doesn’t, four bags to constantly surprise everyone having a rest and a coat, if suddenly snow falls. At the end of the vacation, it becomes clear that all we needed was good weather and close people nearby, and the rest was just a trifle that cost nothing. Sometimes we can just take our favorite book, buy a cup of coffee and go read in the park - this is enough to feel good.
If you were told that you urgently need to leave your room and take only the most necessary things, then you probably would not have taken any trinket bought for a penny somewhere in the market during the holidays. You would capture what is truly valuable to you and be able to do without problems without all those things that you would leave in your room. A minimalist artist does the same. He takes the most important artistic means and transfers them to his canvas, because for him these elements are of great value and best convey his worldview to the viewer.
Simplicity in art, as in life, is very relative. For some, it borders on asceticism, while for others it is only a simplification of difficulties. After all, art is a very subtle matter that every artist uses in accordance with his views and desires.
Classics of impressionism expressed their desire for simplicity, portraying the impression. Our impressions are airy and always fleeting. They are individual, but always understandable to everyone. This is the simplicity of their work.
But contemporary art completely rejects complex designs; it builds concepts that do not need chimeric forms and bright color palettes. Such minimalism gives comfort and makes it easy to move, regardless of changing environmental conditions. You don’t want to wear a carnival costume every day, because it is inconvenient and interferes with normal functioning, so choose the most suitable clothes. Likewise, a modern artist no longer wants to burden his paintings with ten layers of different colors, he denies any idleness and strives to express his attitude through a minimal set of tools.
A wonderful example of minimal art is the work of Ukrainian artist Semyon Shcherbina. He transforms landscapes and deliberately simplifies them to show not the landscape itself, but his perception, as he sees and realizes it. Our memory does not take pictures of what we see. It preserves an abstract picture where everything is mixed: colors, sensations, our emotions. It’s best not to try to keep all thoughts in your head and not to try to own a lot of things, because it slows down our movement. The simpler your landscape in life will look, the easier it will be for you to look at it.
Another example of simplicity in painting is the work of Lera Litvinova, the founder of Lera Litvinova Gallery. She captures a moment of nature and depicts it in full monochrome to maintain focus on the moment itself and the concept that consists in it.
The artist Yuri Shapovalov also strive for minimalism in his work. Its simplicity consists in a quick image of the object. He does not try to keep the picture of nature in his mind, but instantly spills it on the canvas so as not to lose the freshness of what he saw. The simplicity of technology is a lot of work, because it requires determination and the ability to be spontaneous. It’s hard to be spontaneous in life if you have an unbearable burden, so learn how to live freely and value the moment.
As you can see, art is our life. It can teach a lot and motivate for the right actions. If you feel that you are no longer able to carry the burden of unnecessary things and thoughts, stop for a second and imagine your life as a clean canvas on which you can depict only the most valuable objects. It can be your favorite sofa, pillow, dress, maybe a car or a food processor, or maybe there will be your beloved person or a dog. The main thing is to understand what is important for you, without which you cannot imagine your life. When you decide what is worth drawing and what is not, feel free to take paints and fill your life canvas.
Simplicity does not mean primitiveness, it is getting rid of excesses. It carries with it spiritual purity and harmony, makes it possible to take a sober look at the world and understand what is important and what is not. Do not become hostages of large bags and a library of empty thoughts, because living simply is like art!
