Lasar Segall

at Museu Lasar Segall

Floresta, 1957

People are herding animals. They live in groups. Living in groups leads to interactions between members(black structures). The interactions create conflicts(yellow-tinted spots). The conflicts generate wars(grey structures) or rules(blue lines).

David Thorpe

at Casey Kaplan (Art 43 Basel 2012)

The Real Life, 2006

People need laws. They need rules to live by. People are social in nature. When you have a group, you have to have some rules in place, otherwise it is very lonely and cold place. Besides well defined and written laws (the yellow fences) there are some unspoken rules of individual behavior (the stakes in the foreground). Those rules look weak and easy to overcome. But you need real courage, rebellion and love for freedom (the black figure) to step outside the self imposed borders.

Tom Friedman

at Stephen Friedman Gallery ( Frieze Art Fair New York 2012)

Untitled (The garden), 2010

Seemingly wilderness of a garden is a product of a careful design and hard work. All these efforts are trying to put the right plans in and to rid of the wrong ones. The weeds are not wrong, they just don't follow gardener's rules. The same  applies to people. It's your rules that divide people to the right ones and to the wrong ones.Your weed person is the perfect right person for someone else.

Weekend Edition 24

Robert Delaunay

Rhythm, 1912

The rhythm is created bu separate sounds, nevertheless they obey certain laws and rules(the left pane). The timing between the sounds is what distinguish the music from a cacophony. But the timing is the delay between sounds, but the delay is the silence. So the silence defines the music. From another perspective the rhythm influences you. It creates a mood for you(yellow-blue art in the upper left corner of the right pane that creates yellow-blue-red-green-blue-black circle in the upper right corner). Those taps can go deep into your memory to bring up some things from the past(the green arc in lower left corner of the right pane, red-yellow-blue arc from the center to lower right corner).

Richard Diebenkorn

Richard Diebenkorn at Leslie Feely Fine Art (Art Basel Miami Beach 2011)

Art Basel Miami Beach

Untitled

Rules are here for the reason. They help us to resolve things that are not obvious. The rules are represented here by a street light(red ring, yellow ring and green line in the middle left). The rules that work are based on common sense and pragmatism. They solve conflicts even before the conflicts start. Those rules are a balance of what you can and can't do(dark brown area at the top, lighter brown area in the middle right and constructs in the middle of  them). When the rules are broken and nobody follows them, you find that your nice fast highway(the black object in the middle left) is over. And you are balancing on a high wire trying not to fall(lower right).