A theme I love to talk about in art is the concept of balance, because it has so many implications. Sydni Inman’s “Mobius” shows this off with elegance and understatement. Here are three of my favorite images from Sydni’s flickr gallery.
Brilliant placement and blending of textures reinforce the title in this conceptual composite.
“Mobius“
Implied features, contour, and symmetry all play into a marvelous execution.
“Untitled“
A very unusual choice for texture that moves it into a more prominent element.
Take a close look at “Mobius” above. The processing on the model’s face shows amazing depth and subtlety, and will be what most people will focus on immediately after being captured by those eyes. While the dark areas are indeed pure black, your eye wants to fill in those areas and see a complete face, when there’s really little more than hints of luminosity to suggest the contours.
Balance in this image is not just about symmetry and weighting of the geometry on the canvas, but about the proximity of light and dark to imply dimension. It’s also about the restraint in letting out just enough detail to engage the eye deeply, but finding a way to let the viewer fill in the rest. This is an astounding piece that demonstrates mastery of negative space as a compositional element.
“Untitled” shows a similar ethic and chooses an unusual approach to making large, bombastic textures a thematic element, while “Peering…” is a beautiful example of moving what is normally a more subtle look into the front of the visual story.
Be sure to head over the Sydni’s Facebook and flickr pages linked below! You’ll see mostly human subjects ranging from fine art and conceptual to editorial. I really think this artist’s future is in exploring these restrained but richly textured composite pieces.
What do you think? Pick your favorite piece and tell me about it on Facebook!
