The Razor of William

William of Ockham

William of Ockham was an English logician and Franciscan friar who, in the 14th century, developed a theory which stated that the explanation of any phenomenon should make as few assumptions as possible, eliminating those that make no difference. Entities should not be multiplied beyond necessity were his words. Today, this is known as Occam's Razor and is generally understood as, "All things being equal, the simplest solution tends to be the best one."

Thomas Aquinas made the argument that, "If a thing can be done adequately by means of one, it is superfluous to do it by means of several, for we observe that nature does not employ two instruments where one suffices." Excess, it would seem, is the artist's worst enemy. By leaving out the nonessential elements we are left with only that which is necessary to convey a thought or an emotion. The rest of the process is left to take place between our ears, both as the artist and as a viewer of art.

Leonardo da Vinci summed up the artistic process this way: "Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication." The best art seems to be that which reduces reality to its simplest terms, extracting that which makes an emotional statement and discarding the rest.

Just paint it!