What The Type Of Art You Like Says About Your Brain

"Flagstaff Ponderosa" Artist: Matthew Sabey Smith (Best For Wood & Earth Elements)

What The Type Of Art You Like Says About Your Brain

Left Or Right?

       Most people have heard about the two hemispheres of the brain, the right versus the left. To oversimplify it, the left side of the brain tends to be where we would discuss logic and when we make rational decisions. The right side of the brain is when we think about creativity and emotional intuition. 

IQ, EQ, SQ

       I am sure you have heard of IQ before being the notorious test to see how smart someone is. What about emotional intelligence and spiritual intelligence? We tend to focus so strongly on the IQ but as research begins to dive deeper we begin to make further connections with Emotional Intelligence and Spiritual Intelligence.

Balance & Career

       It is pretty easy to utilize these forms of intelligence to figure out what career would be most balanced for an individual. Someone with a strong sense of logic and focus within left brained tasks would likely be best in the sciences and mathematics while someone with a strong sense of creativity and emotion would thrive in the arts and areas that focus on emotions, this could potentially be psychology as well (a mix of emotions and sciences together!)

What Five Elements Would Correlate?

       Since so much of our focus revolves around the five element theory and TCM, how could we use the elements to determine where someone would thrive or have imbalances? Someone who has a strong sense of logic and rationale would likely be very well organized, prefer a routine and can easily sift through decisions in a black and white fashion. Traits such as this would correlate to a high IQ and the Metal Element most, as it is the most refined of the elements.

       The person who makes decisions based on emotions and feelings, prefers fluidity in their day to day and feels a strong sense of drive from their heart would likely err more toward EQ and SQ as these tend to correlate more with the right side of the brain. In this case we would say this person most relates to the Fire Element as it is the closest to the emotional spirit and houses our individuality. 

What About The Other Three Elements?

       We have five elements, yes of course, however the most extreme difference when it comes to IQ, EQ and SQ I would argue is between the Metal and Fire Elements. Everyone falls somewhere on a spectrum with IQ, EQ and SQ, however. When it comes to art, these examples help to paint the picture to get my point across (yes pun intended!)

What About The Art? Metal

       If I were to think of someone with a primarily metal psychological constitution, knowing their need for organization, refined decision making and being set in their ways, I would likely present them with a monochromatic artwork. Monochromatic artwork would mean black and white.The subject matter would certainly differ based on the individual, but for the sake of this example, black and white would likely serve this person’s preference quite well.

What About The Art? Fire

       On the other hand, someone who has a psychological constitution relating to the fire element, they would likely prefer an extremely colorful artwork with highly saturated colors in particular. This is because the fire element loves taking things to the extreme, in this case the more colorful, large and extravagant the artwork, the more they would likely be drawn to it. 

Test It Out

       I really like to test this out when I work with clients, both with clients in medicine as well as clients in the art world. Based on my training and teaching in school it helped me determine how someone would respond to particular artwork based on what I could gather about their interests, constitution (meaning their overarching Five Element Type) and desired outcomes. This is how I determine what materials, colors, themes and even sharpness used to create commissioned artworks or when I have a buyer interested in looking to decorate their home. It is a constantly evolving and exciting experience and is why I wrote my book “How To Design With A Healthy Mind & Body” which is the basic framework for my upcoming course “Elevate Your Space” where we use the book and dive even deeper to learn more about these concepts and how to apply them all throughout our home and for other people as well.

If you are curious, check out the book and be sure to subscribe to the email list to stay up to date when the course officially releases!

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Check It OUt!