The Art of Less is a thoughtful and visually compelling exploration of what gives simplicity its depth. Written by Sarah Dorweiler and Jonas Bjerre-Poulsen, it brings together 20 artistic, architectural and design practices to examine how restraint can sharpen perception and enrich everyday experience.
At a time of constant stimulation and fragmented attention, The Art of Less addresses a growing need for clarity. It explores how carefully considered objects and spaces can ease sensory overload, draw us back to physical experience and make room for sustained attention. In doing so, the book reveals the value of restraint in shaping how we perceive, feel and inhabit the world.
Organised around balance, contrast, materiality, rhythm and space, the book moves fluidly between disciplines. Buildings by Álvaro Siza and John Pawson sit alongside Lee Ufan’s elemental encounters and the material investigations of Christian + Jade. These connections are particularly illuminating: a painting’s untouched surface and an architectural void become related ways of directing attention.
The book unfolds as an open inquiry, guided by conversations with the featured practitioners. Sharing their ideas, influences and working methods, they offer glimpses into their creative worlds: how they begin, what they question and how they recognise when a work is complete. Their reflections reveal the experimentation, hesitation and intuition behind seemingly effortless results.
These accounts reveal a sensual, deeply human approach to minimalism, rooted in how materials, light and proportion meet the body and shape everyday life. Texture, warmth, patina and subtle irregularities give restrained forms an emotional richness, leaving room for touch, use and change. The photography and generous layout invite the reader to slow down and attend to these qualities.
At times, recurring language around stillness and presence makes the individual voices feel closer than their distinct practices might suggest. Yet the book remains persuasive in its central proposition: thoughtful reduction creates room for a richer encounter with the world. It rewards slow reading and offers a sensitive vocabulary for understanding why certain objects, artworks and spaces move us.
Credit for Cover Image – The Art of Less:
Kimsooja
Deductive Object - Bottari,
Black paint on stone, 117X176X128cm
Courtesy of Meridiano, Puerto Escondido, Mexico
Photographer: Biel Moreno
bielmoreno.com
