Returning to Colossal’s 4 November feature on Stelios Pupet: the artist begins with a structural grid and builds his paintings over it. What interests us isn’t the presence of guides alone, but their relationship with form.
For visual systems, this distinction matters. A grid can distribute tension without turning every element into an identical rectangle. Deviations become legible against order instead of disappearing among other deviations. It’s a question of what deserves attention.
Look at your composition without its construction lines. Does the sense of structure remain? Bring them back and find where a rule helps rather than merely being obeyed. Sometimes a good system reveals itself in the confidence with which it allows an exception.
