When learning more about my meditation practice while studying in Thailand, the primary guidance from the monks included finding a balance between consciousness and calm. I am most at peace in that neutral space: not too excited, not too down; not too positive, not too negative. Referencing the children’s story “Goldilocks and the Three Bears”—where most things are too hot or too cold, too hard or too soft, and finding “just right” is hard—I have thought a lot about how we find “just right.” It is not only by continually seeking but also by how we see, acknowledge, and think about what we already have. “Just right” is essentially a gratitude practice.

Wolfgang Tillmans’s photographic practice balances figuration and abstraction, traditional presentation methods and prints pinned or taped to the wall, and challenges most things we understand about the medium. The freshness with which he creates and presents images feels exploratory, open, and balanced—an artistic equivalent of just right—suggesting that we needn’t see more to appreciate the beauty of what is.

‍

Wolfgang Tillmans
Freischwimmer 113 [Free Swimmer 113], 2007
Chromogenic print mounted on Forex in artist’s frame
94.5 x 70.9 in
Courtesy Fundación Jumex Arte Contemporáneo