3.4.1 Balanced composition

The only really balanced form of visual composition must be the bilateral symmetry of byzantine art, or some of the symmetrical mandalas of the Far East. Of course, there are all kinds of other approaches to composition and people who talk about them invariably claim that they are balanced, but the truth is, they aren’t—and shouldn’t be. They are, instead, imbalanced in a way that is pleasing because they are imbalanced. Balance means stagnation. In fact, all manifestations of energy in the universe could be discussed in terms of an imbalance of some kind. Energy moves from one place to another because there is an imbalance. Energy is imbalance. And without energy art is… well, crap.

Based on an email to Steve Clarian
2005.12