What do you see when you look at a painting? Is it the technical aspects of the paint strokes and the combination of colours? Is it the use of light and dark to create contrast and perspective? Or is it something more?
Is it the subjects and the characters of the piece? Is it the environment depicted and the little idiosyncrasies and details?
A picture may just be a picture, but a painting can tell a story of a thousand words, in the passing of a moment.
Humans have created art for millennia. For most of that time the images have been narrative. Only in the 20th century with the rise of abstract art have things changed with images produced that don’t resemble anything relative, with no figures or objects from the real world. Early 20th century artists rebelled against realism and narrative painting. Movements like Cubism, which broke forms into geometric shapes, and abstract expressionism, which explored feelings through colour and brushstrokes, moved away from narrative art.
Paintings With A Story
Theo’s art is almost always narrative. It always depicts a representation of a real world scenario that we can relate to and understand. The objective is to tell a story that elicits a focused attention and emotions from the viewer. It isn’t just capturing a moment. It is capturing a moment that explains the past and foreshadows the future.