3. VALUE AND DRAMA

Colour defines contemporary art. As such, it’s tempting to see the use of strong colours as a quick and surefire route to creating visually strong artworks. However, while contemporary sensibilities might lean towards colour, our vision doesn’t.

In evolutionary terms, we as humans are predicated towards perceiving value contrasts – this is how our brains work and no amount of aesthetics is going to change that. Artists who exploit value will create pictures that more people find compelling more of the time. We should begin to think of value as the “first impression” that a picture will create on the viewer – it’s as important as that.

A common question we might ask ourselves about our latest painting is “How could this be improved?” In almost