Thoughts on storytelling

I know I haven't spent much time in here lately - just post 'n' run - so here's some real thoughts.

I've enrolled in an art history paper at Victoria this semester, just for fun and to keep things interesting - y'know?
We're being guided through a potted history of art from the 1800's to the present, and this week I've been thinking a bit about how my own art might be influenced by what I'm learning and how critically I'm seeing now.

So far I have to say, it's the story telling that amazes me in the works I admire - the ones that make me shake my head in wonder.
It's probably the single most important thing I could learn right now, that will empower my work and make it better. It's as much what you don't say, as what you do - and the references to myth, allegorical tales, history, the sublime and the narrative tale...Basically any complex means of developing that message you want to say.

The way that stories have been explored by artists through the last couple of centuries is fascinating. I'm drawn to the dark ones at the moment - the dimly lit depths of romantic paintings dealing with madness- or with emotions -overblown and overplayed, or just on view and asking the viewer to experience it.

I have so much to learn it's humbling really.