Emphasize me!

BIG, small. Just with the variation of capital letters and small letters, we can feel the difference in meaning. Art can be extremely effective. It has these techniques and ways of making us feel something without even carefully looking at the piece of work or looking beyond the surface. On technique that artists often play with is scale and proportion. How big is this object? Should it be bigger than the one next to it? Do I want this figure to seem more important? Should I make everything smaller in the painting? An artist can be also described as an inquisitor. They are always curious and look for new ways to answer the same questions, and use their artwork as experimentation. One of the best techniques that has been used several times is proportion, which is the relative size, or a size measured against other elements. A few years back, I saw an installation that has stuck in my mind, but I cannot recall the name or the artist. There was a figure of a woman, placed a few feet away from a man almost double her size. The art allowed me to ponder the meaning and without any extra information, I was able to understand that this installation was trying to explain women’s oppression. The power that art can send when you don’t have to read the description is the best way for the viewer and artist to connect, and often ways such as scale and proportion can help send us a message.