Pause, Breathe, Space
- Dodo
- Sep 17
- 2 min read
What happens when I leave space in my artworks—and when I don’t?
For me, space is more than a visual choice. It reflects something deeply human: the need for pause, for breath, for lightness in between the movements of life. When I leave white space in my paintings, it is like taking a breath before entering the next phase. It is a reminder that life is not just about filling every corner, but also about allowing openness in between.
I’ve noticed that this often feels unusual in Western cultures. People ask me why there is emptiness between colors or forms, why I don’t fill the whole canvas. For me, those spaces create a different kind of presence. They allow contrasts to emerge, differences to play, and new things to be born. The artwork feels lighter, more expansive.
When I don’t leave space, on the other hand, the painting becomes dense, compounded. It is like being in a moment of change when so much is happening at once. You only have a partial view, a small window into the whole. In those moments, there is no breath, no pause—just immersion.
Both ways of creating are important to me. Sometimes the material, the color, or the movement dictates that the whole canvas be filled. Especially when the movement is everywhere at once and not clearly defined. At other times, space naturally appears, like clarity surfacing in life.
Personally, I prefer to leave spaces, especially since they mirror the way I choose to live. I intentionally create pauses in my days, in moments, and between life phases. This rhythm of pause and breath gives me clarity, direction, and lightness. And so my paintings, too, follow this natural flow.
If this speaks to you, I invite you to explore my artworks from this perspective and see how space, pause, and breath take form on the canvas and which one speaks to you and in what ways: https://www.dodonewman.com/paintings
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