Colour
Form
Tone
Composition
Content, Form and Technique are the three components that conjoin to make a powerful work of art. They are of equal importance and should be inextricably mixed in the work, forming a matrix so that no single component can be removed, or exist without the other two. Technique realises form which expresses and communicates content.
The symbiotic relationship should be balanced and congruent – achieve harmony – in the finished work (e.g. technique should not – cannot – outstrip form, form should not overwhelm content, which in turn should not curtail other attributes such as intuition, imagination, feeling; or restrict the development of the work in progress. (As technique combines with feeling, contacts inner, unconscious elements and brings them to the surface – they become manifest through form, underpinned by perceived content of the work, tempered by humility, integrity and compassion).
In other words, all three components can change during the progress of the work, to accommodate each other and attain harmony. This state of flux is a direct expression of the fluidity of the mind attained during the process of painting – consciousness working directly through technique (technique being not merely a clever facility, but a conduit, a conductor of feeling), expressing the latent content of the work in a form that is, to use Yanagi’s phrase, “born, not made”.
Being in this detached, responsive, heightened state is also to be in dialogue with the painting, which has a life of it’s own and it’s own internal dynamics. Perceiving form and content as they arrive, through technique, on the canvas alters consciousness, which in turn adjusts technique and form (and thus content) – in this way the three attributes can be seen to be inseparable, interdependent, interacting and equal.
