Is there room to breathe in your work?

Jun 08, 2026

I am working with an artist whose work is beautifully and skilfully decorated, colourful and exuberant. A gorgeous maximalist approach. It's her signature style.

My job as her mentor is to help her develop this work and make it even better, so she can realize its full potential.

One of the things I suggested she experiment with goes against her usual way of working.

Not necessarily doing less.

But creating more space.

More room for the eye to rest.

The suggestion has stayed with me because it is something I have been thinking about in my own work.

Where can the eye, the mind and the heart rest in my work?

Consider this…

Music needs silence.

Think of the pause before Whitney Houston hits the high notes in "I Will Always Love You." She sings, "But above all this, I wish you looooove.” Pause… nothing… drum beat… boom… then "and IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII will always love youuuuuuu."

In that dramatic pause, time stops, anticipation builds, and the emotional impact of her next line is tremendous.

Our own work needs breathing room.

Think about the difference between your work on a crowded studio shelf and the same work in a carefully curated exhibition.

Nothing about the object has changed.

Yet the space around it allows us to experience it more fully.

The same principle applies within our work.

Call it space, contrast, a pause, breathing room, negative space, maybe you have another word for it... these things can be harnessed to great effect.

I have a small vessel made by Niharika Hukku.

There is plenty of breathing room and a high level of contrast in this work. The white spaciousness allows for the more intricate illustration (it's of a carnivorous pitcher plant) to pulsate and come alive.

If every part of the vessel carried the same visual intensity and detail of the illustration, I don't think it would have the same impact.

Breathing room doesn't necessarily mean empty space.

It might be: