The bureaucracy of freedom

When Helen Frankenthaler said ‘no rules’, everything was up for grabs: she would interrogate, disrupt or disregard conventions. While Frankenthaler had the perception to envision what she intended to make, for some artists that deterministic state of knowing can be elusive. The author reflects on Frankenthaler’s maxim ‘no rules’ and compares it to their personal experience of painting practice. This article explores the impact of a single decision on the direction and outcome of an artwork and investigates the balance between regulation and artistic intuition in the author’s painting. The article further explores the concept of artistic freedom and the paradox it presents. It suggests that many artists introduce problems or limitations to navigate the creative process. The author outlines their own artistic methodology which utilizes rules, algorithms and systems to navigate artistic decision-making and to create a dialectic tension between structure and artistic freedom.