To dare is to lose one’s footing momentarily, not to dare is to lose oneself.
– Soren Kierkegaard
We are a culture obsessed with balance. Don’t upset the balance, eat a balanced diet, monitor your credit card balance, balance the books, your fate lies in the balance, engage in a balancing act between this and that – family and career, life and love, work and play, dreams and reality, balance the equation. The prevailing mantra – don’t get off balance!
When you were taught art in elementary school no doubt your teacher focused on symmetry – i.e. symmetrical balance. A column on the left requires one on the right – keep the balance – in the tradition of the classical Greeks. An asymmetrical composition or abstract image might throw off the guiding principles. If you were to move that column over to experiment with a different kind of balance, or color outside the lines of the drawing, you would invite a slew of criticism. You would pose a serious threat to the stability of the established system, or at the least you would be accused of inferior rendering skills. These confining messages and templates lurk around long after the damage has been done. Their echo stifles experimentation, invention, and creativity.
I admire classic beauty for its elegant symmetry and hold classical architecture in high regard for its balance and proportions. However, I am drawn to the intrigue and seduction of the irregular, the informal, the disproportionate, even the lopsided, crooked and slightly askew. These principles may be a more accurate reflection of our current culture. They present puzzles, pose questions, offer alternatives. Contemporary artists, writers, and musicians often utilize asymmetry to upset the balance. To create compelling images, text or lyrics, they disregard the balance of power – they risk!
We as a culture are fascinated by risky business as long as we are safe. We watch the “artistic crime” of Man on a Wire in disbelief, the documentary of Philippe Petit, the daring man who in 1974 successfully walked on a wire strung up illegally 200 feet off the ground, 110 stories high, between the World Trade Center’s Twin Towers. We marvel at the recent high wire feat of Nick Wallenda of the Flying Wallendas family fame. He defied all notions of staying balanced when more than 10,000 people witnessed his 1300 foot walk on a cable at night, in the fog, across the turbulent waters of Niagara Falls between Canada and the U.S. Our fascination is as much about defying logic and official sanctions as it is about the adrenalin rush of danger.
You don’t have to string up a high wire and dance across a raging river gorge without a safety net. But rather than confining your balancing acts to balancing your tires and your checkbook (both of which are good ideas) you could consider the possibility of stepping outside your regular zone of familiarity or limiting loop – do something you have always wanted to do, expand what you have already accomplished. Put a little asymmetry into your life. You don’t have to forego the classics or negate all forms of classic symmetry. I’m not advocating illegal activity, just nudging the official limits of balance in order to stretch and discover. Create an asymmetrical composition, write right off the page, abandon all formal punctuation, honor abstraction, tilt the horizon. You don’t have to create a match for every component, or mirror everything you’ve been taught.
Take a chance in your quest to achieve greater insight. Lose your balance and find your true equilibrium!