Tuesday, November 24, 2009

Abstract Art and How To Understand It

The first thing to say is that Abstract Paintings aren’t any one single thing, there are all sorts of approaches to abstract art with extremely different results. My own interest and approach is in the tradition of abstract expressionism, with the idea of the artist as subject, an intuitive approach and self expression high up the agenda.

When asked what his subject matter was, the Abstract Expressionist Jackson Pollock famously remarked “I am the subject”. The point being that you don’t need an external point of reference in order to create a painting. Having said that, it is inevitable that external factors do have an influence and show through in the resulting abstract paintings.

What Pollock is saying is that it is who he is that makes his paintings what they are. He is the sum of his own unique experiences, and it the combination of this and his particular memories, mood, environment, etc that result in his paintings.

It is a shame that abstract art is not widely appreciated, and in the UK at least our education system has to take at least part of the blame. There is still a widespread perception that abstract paintings are either created by people because they can’t do ‘proper’ paintings, or that they are in fact trying to do a proper painting, but failing badly.For further information on my ramblings on the subject of abstract paintings see my Understanding Abstract Art essay.

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