“The Great Wave,” (Under the Wave off Kanagawa, or Kanagawa oki nami ura), is one of the most recognizable artworks in the world. I first saw this woodblock print in real life when I was at the Art Institute of Chicago. I was blown away by how much smaller it was in person than I had perceived it to be. It is only 10 x 14 3/4 inches. Which makes sense. It is a carved woodblock print after all. But, I remember this as my first experience where I was truly surprised by the difference in my perceived size and the real size of the work. This more intimate scale of the work gave me a different experience than I had expected!
Recently the opposite happened, a painting was much bigger than I thought! Here is Edvard Munch’s, The Sun, painted in 1911. Now, the default in my mind is that paintings are 18″x24″ or 36″ x 48″ if I am not thinking about it too much. Why? Probably because that is what I handle and live with the most. However, this particular version of The Sun is huge. 14.7 x 25.7 feet! Because other versions of The Sun are smaller, I had automatically figured this one was too!
Edvard Munch, The Sun, 1911.
When we look at art in real life, part of experience includes understanding the scale. When looking at photos or videos of the art, we need to remember to pay attention to the credit lines that tell us the actual size! The impact of a painting that is the size of an entire wall is very different!
Larger Than Life
Georgia O’Keeffe’s flowers are a wonderful example of taking something smaller and blowing it up bigger. We get to notice what simply was passing us by. Folds of petals become mysteries to explore.
Mount Rushmore would not be visited if it was boulder that was carved – or perhaps it would but only as a minor road-side attraction.
Think Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, and Jeff Koon’s balloon dogs.
Smaller Than You Think Possible
Carved grains of rice, and paintings inside Altoids tins are examples I have seen on social media. The size of the art becomes the main topic of the art piece. (Sometimes the size steals the show.)
Size As Inspiration
As an artist- you can use the following list for ideas in the studio:
- Take a piece of an existing painting – and blow it up bigger (maybe a 2″ x 2″ section because the inspiration for a 16″ x 16″?
- Find a smaller subject matter with shapes that interest you – how big can you make it?
- What happens if you reduce the size of a work? Take your favorite painting and make a new version in less than 25 brush strokes on a much smaller canvas size.
- Have a artwork that didn’t work out well? What originally inspired you? What if you took only that section and blew it up bigger than life and painted it? For example, maybe a whole landscape didn’t work, but the light coming through a leaf is what really interested you. What if that one leaf was four times it’s real-life size?