A couple of weekends ago, we went to the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. They have a current exhibition that juxtaposes Georgia O’Keefe’s work with Henry Moore’s. Click here to see:

While O’Keefe is American and Moore is British, they both experimented with taking items from the natural world and portraying them in the abstract: O’Keefe through painting and Moore, primarily through public sculptures. They lived around the same time. (late 1800s-late 1900s) Their philosophy about art was similar and their artistic lives in essence were parallel. It was interesting to have their work and lives juxtaposed.

One of the ideas that both experimented with was the idea of negative space. You can really see that with Moore’s work. Negative space or the empty space around and between the subject. Negative space is not made up of artwork, medium or anything else. It is important, sometimes more important that what is conveyed. It is the negative space that sets off and explains the visible work.

As today is New Year’s Day, I’ve been thinking about new beginnings, goals and the idea of making changes. Most years, at the new year, we think of adding some positive change into our lives- proactive goals and resolutions. Yet I’ve been thinking about negative space: absences that set off the items. What if today, we didn’t make any positive resolutions but rather negative ones- things we won’t do this year?

“This year, I won’t ….. “(fill in the blank). “This year I won’t ingest too many sweets, drink too much alcohol. This year I won’t binge watch any shows, or stay up later than I planned. This year I won’t be sucked into another’s drama, or be belittled by another person’s pettiness. This year I won’t be afraid of what other people think of me. This year I won’t be held under by someone else’s expectations.”

This year, can I say no to something so that it frees me up to have space for something else? Can I say no to something that uses my time or resources in order to say yes to something I want to do? Would having that space allow me to enjoy something that I am already doing but never have time or resources to enjoy? By saying no and enjoying “negative space” as it were, would I be creating a new way to look at my circumstances, much like Henry Moore’s sculptures and the use of negative space?

Saying no- to others and even to ourselves is hard. On one hand saying no is denying something- an action, idea, or item. Saying no might upset someone or displease them and most people, I think, want to please others. But what if saying no really is a yes for something else: feeling more life satisfaction, spending more time with family and friends, completing an important task, focusing on one’s purpose. What if saying no or not doing some action or feeling, allows the (yes) positive action or feeling to finally occur?

What about you? What things can/should you say no to? Would that free you up to say yes to something else? What won’t you do in the new year?

Michelangelo has said, “The sculpture is already complete within the marble block, before I start my work. It is already there, I just have to chisel away the superfluous material.”

What superfluous things are in your life that need to be chipped away?

Happy New Year.