Black and white abstracts on a wall

A Black & White moment

A Black & White moment.
Black and white. Light and dark. The absence or presence of light. Absolutes. There is something so primal about black and white.
Its like stripping away the colors and laying things bare. Of drawing, designing, thinking and feeling at the elemental level.
I ALWAYS start everything I draw in black and white. If I love it in black and white, chances are that I would love it even more in color.
Black and white abstract faces
Custom original art by Soul Curry
Black and white have many different connotations, cultural, religious and social associations, but the one thing that threads through all the interpretations is that it is as dramatic as it is simple. Unmissable, timeless and stirs up emotions at the basic level.
It begs to be looked at. Gritty sometimes, with the use of textures such as stippling, crosshatching and the weights of thick and thin lines. The same black can evoke a gamut of reactions: it can be highly glossy like patent and screaming all things decadent and forbidden. It can be porous like charcoal, smudgy, soft, floating and earthy. It can flow like the luscious thickness of petrol, drowning you in its inky viscosity.
White on the other hand is for vast open spaces, pure lines, the feeling of eternal space, It is virginal in some cultures, pristine, untouched, the color for death and devastation in others.
 
The contrasts of black and white is as stark and ironic as its absence. The positive and the negative.
Black and white is timeless, it is modern and classic. It can be minimal or decadent. In fashion and decor, art, textiles and ceramics, black and white will transcend language and will continue to hold its appeal for centuries.
I use black everywhere in my work. playing with the positive and negative forms in The Couple, the inky black nothingness of The Abyss. The rendition of a vividly colorful Parrot in black and white patterns which focuses on surface embellishments rather than its color. 
Women's faces in black and white abstract art
"The Couple" art print by Soul Curry
black and white abstract people
More recently in my latest Pod People series, I had fun exploring human interactions in its elemental levels in a series of blacks and whites.
Abstract art on a shelf above a table
collage of Inshita's artwork in black and white
So add a dash of black, a sprinkling of white and make these classics a dominant part of your style statement.
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