Negative Space & Negativity

Last night we were at my sister-in-law’s place for dinner. She’s a very talented artist and before we left I commented about a painting in her kitchen. I applauded her use of negative space, it really drew me into the picture. She explained how it was a painting of a picture she took in New Orleans and, without giving me any details as to why, told me she felt compelled to paint it. All I said to her was what wasn’t there drew my attention that much harder to what was there.

As I sit here, a few days ahead of going into the studio, I can’t help but think about the negative space that is currently in these songs. Although I’ve always felt like I’ve never jammed things into songs just because there was space, there was intentionality behind it this time. And, although it helps give the other players some place to be creative, I don’t know that I can necessarily give myself credit for that idea (and Paul most certainly drilled that point home in pre-production so that I didn’t forget it!). Thinking about it now, I think it’s because I wanted the words to be the center of the song. I love music, but words are at the very center, at the very genesis of creation. God spoke life into existence. Words are powerful.

It’s also the power of words that have given me great pause over the last few days. I’ve not just thought about negative space, but negativity.

People who are so fragile and broken that they don’t think about what a person says, they immediately jump to hearing the most negative thing it could possiblly mean and then, in response, becoming incredibly nasty and juvenile themselves. Sometimes this is a good thing. I’ve seen people shed the last layer of their costume as they are no longer pretending to be the thing they’ve said they were. Other times, I’m saddened, because these people might be good people, but their brokenness and immaturity hasn’t yet faded to allow them to process information, think critically and then respond accordingly. It doesn’t mean they might not have found something to criticize, but maybe that criticism would be intelligent and loving and not just, “well fuck you”. Loving and intelligent criticism can be fruitful. “Fuck you” is rarely fruitful.

But, we live in a culture where everything has become, “well fuck you”.

And if everything in our culture is now, “well fuck you”, then it’s no longer rebellious to say, “well fuck you.”

So, you’re just playing make-believe rebellious like little kids do.

If you fill up all the space in your message, whether that’s a photo, a painting, a song, or whatever, no one is going to know what you really mean. If you can allow for some negative space, let things breathe, draw attention to what’s important, then you might actually find people relate to you better. But if you paint a Jackson Pollock of “fuck yous”, don’t be surprised if people stop listening to your message that you buried beneath your juvenile rage.