Art history: Understanding abstract expressionism – Part 4

Wikipedia describes abstract expressionism like this:

The movement gets its name because it is seen as combining the emotional intensity and self-denial of the German Expressionists with the anti-figurative aesthetic of the European abstract schools such as Futurism, the Bauhaus and Synthetic Cubism. Additionally, it has an image of being rebellious, anarchic, highly idiosyncratic and, some feel, rather nihilistic.

However, I think understanding abstract expressionism is very difficult for the average Joe. What’s the difference between a Pollock and me tripping over a few cans of paint and splashing it on a drop cloth in the basement? Is it anything more than me being able to “talk the talk” artistically? If the abstraction comes from the artists feelings and emotions then that runs contrary to the “boys don’t cry” mentality drilled into many men from early ages on into adulthood. It’s no wonder the average Joe prefers Dogs Playing Poker” over a Rothko oddly colored canvas. As much as Pollack feels for his work I counter that others feel similar for their favorites.

Without an open mind I don’t think there will be much success in appreciating abstract expressionism. I wonder though how much more understandable it would be if, say, it was influenced by the World War II since the era of abstract expressionism started around that time. I have never heard of a reference to that, but I can surely understand that kind of art in an effort to understanding the horror of that kind of war.

For my two cents I can’t wrap my head around seeing anything in abstract expressionism from my own point of view. I can only try to see it from what the artist might have been going through. I guess I don’t this kind of art as something for the viewer to put themselves in over showing the viewer what the artist has gone through. But that’s just me.

Abstract painting explained – Part 5

Abstract art is phenomenally difficult to fully understand. This same property is alluring to some, and rejected by others. Several times in recent years, young children under the age of ten have created nice, but unremarkable, abstract paintings – and their parents have marketed them as professional abstract art. The paintings sold for hundreds, even thousands of dollars, before the public learned the truth behind the illusions.

A painting that even a child can create can sell for so much money because people, and their wallets, get caught up in the pretense of the art world. The direct personal dialogue between artist and viewer is forgotten. The successful sale of children’s artwork does not demonstrate that abstract art itself is a phony scam taking over the world of professional art; rather, it shows that some of the people involved don’t know much about what makes good abstract art.

Whether any abstract art should be worth thousands or millions is up for debate: in the end, what matters is what the art is worth to the collector. He’s the one paying. In abstract art more than any other form, it’s all about subjective, nonverbal expression, and this makes it very personal.

At the same time, an abstract painting should not be a random assemblage of shapes and splatters lacking intention, nor should it be a repeated formula with easy rules and little variation. The key to making an abstract painting is to communicate artistic intention while straying away from conventional means – to be spontaneous but not lazy; to be emotionally articulate; to be your true self. Doing this effectively is immensely difficult, but when it is done properly, a new language of form, shape, texture, contrast and color is created. A good abstract painting changes the perspective of the honest and open viewer in a way the viewer can sense, but can’t perfectly define.

Abstract art is not surrealist art. Surrealism, as is notoriously demonstrated by Salvador Dali’s melting clocks, involves arranging familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts, reminiscent of a dream. Few people dream in total visual abstraction: the dreaming process is usually about rearranging the information already in the mind, in somewhat large chunks.

Abstraction breaks it down further than this. An abstract artist strives to make the nonvisual visual, rather than reproduce what we already see. Imagine painting a song, painting a feeling, or even painting a social tendency. How would a single note

The effects of art on perception and emotion

Art in its broadest sense takes in painting, music, writing, sculpting, and all its associated fields. The word means making things that are pleasing to look at, to listen to, or to think about.

What we are dealing with here is painting and how it affects us visually and emotionally.

In art, there’s truth in the saying, what you see is what you get. If, as an example, you see an abstract painting as nothing more than paint smeared on a canvas, then that’s all you will get. If, on the other hand, you see it as a playful juxtaposition of colors interacting with and enhancing each other, you are reacting to it with your emotions.

In what ways do abstract art affect us visually and emotionally? Since abstract art does no paint us a clear picture of some known object, what we make of it is left to us the viewer. Representational art, its opposite, has as its objective, to present a likeness to some person, place or thing.

How we, as museum goers or art viewers in general, react to what we are exposed to has to do with our own innate sense of what we think art is. Art teachers and students will have much different views that the average person.

They will have worked in the process and will know what to look for. How they react emotionally and perceptually may not be that much different from how we react, only possibly more intense. Viewers’ are left to decide and it helps if they know something of the artist’s beliefs, background, the thinking process as well as general trends of art and some of its history.

Generally, abstract art elicits more emotion than regular art. Sometimes the artist seems to be deliberately insulting the public. Subversion may or may not be the intention of the artist but often, if the word goes against what the general public believes to be common decency, then the emotional response is high.

This kind of art often is not so much abstract, as using represent art in new and provocative ways. The intention is clearly to get responses from the viewers. The artist is, in a sense, saying something to the viewers about conditions and affairs and is forcing them to see and to comment.

It is in this way that perception and emotion interplay in the world of art. What about the hordes that views works of art? What is their mind set? How can the average contemplative art viewer respond to what he or she does not understand?

They need an uncluttered link leading them into their own inner selves, into that reservoir of

Abstract Art: a Breakthrough in Artistic Expression

Abstract painting explained – Part 10

A young man in well-cut jeans and a freshly-pressed shirt tilts his head and squints. Then, he turns to his partner and asks, “But what is it supposed to be?”

The pair stands before a large abstract acrylic painting in a museum. The man’s confusion is a common reaction to nonobjective art.

The answer to his question will depend on the painting. Some abstracts, like the anguished portraits of Frances Bacon, are expressions of emotion. Others, like the heady compositions of Wassily Kandinsky, portray profound spiritual vision. Still others, like the light and space plays of Robert Irwin, are intellectual constructs that step straight out of the gallery into the viewer’s mind.

Just as music is about pitch, dynamics, rhythm, and tone quality, painting is about light, shape, color, texture, line, and form. All paintings embody the tension between three-dimensional, endless “reality” and its representation on a flat, limited surface. This basic subject matter underlies a Dutch master’s rendering of a bowl of apples as much as it does the wildest abstract expressionist canvas.

Like poems, novels, and films, all paintings seek to bring order and harmony to the seeming chaos of day-to-day experience. Abstract art is more direct in this goal. It strips away the need to copy the surface aspects of “things” and delves down to the next level, where “things” are harder to define.

Some abstract artists accomplish this dissolution of seeming reality by zooming in to focus on intimate details of common things. Others eliminate everything from the painting’s surface but a color, a texture, or an intriguing line.

Many people enjoy abstract paintings because there is more room for the viewer to move into them and participate over time. A mountain scene or a vase of daffodils may bring back memories or evoke longing, but, in the end, it is just a scene or a bunch of flowers. A great abstract painting can be like a rocky beach, where each day’s encounter can offer something fresh and new. Instead of being trapped in a mire of the artist’s limited intent, the viewer is free to explore his own feelings, thoughts, and spiritual experience.

You will know whether a piece of abstract art has been effective when you leave its presence and go out into the wider world. If, for a while, things seem a little different, the painting has worked.

Understanding abstract art – Part 5

In order to understand any work of art, you have to put it into context. In what time period was it created? From what part of the world does it come- Western or Eastern? Was it created by a man or a woman? What were the social and political aspects of the time? All these questions are important in the understanding of art. In the case of abstract art, we need to look at how it came into being; how it started and what has it contributed to contemporary art practices.

Firstly, to understand abstract art, you need to understand how it began. In the late 19th century, artists began to look for a new way to express the turmoil of an industrial evolution. German expressionism and French impressionism began as a way to convey a different way of seeing and understanding what art should convey. Using a vivid palette and expressive brush strokes expressionists moved away from earlier traditionalist practices. The impressionist used dabs of colour and blurry effects to give represent and give a new interpretation of the dull traditional landscape painting. Then came the dreamy surrealists, the political dadaists and eventually the abstract expressionists. When looking at an abstract painting, what one needs to know is that abstraction is dependent on the understanding of its formal elements: line, colour, movement, repetition etc. Although many seem to be the same, all are different in their painting style and conceptual framework. The reason most people are pushed away from abstract art, be it painting, sculpture, photography etc is that we are a society dependent on the image. There’s the rub. Images do not always successfully convey emotions, thoughts and the understanding of particular issues because of social contexts. Abstracts on the other hand, can be interpreted more loosely and in my opinion are more universal. Whatever your ethnicity, cultural baggage or sexual orientation abstract art is more open ended and not as symbolically limited or charged as art dependent on the image. We live in convoluted times, when ideas and values are continuously changing. A religious painting from the 1300’s for example, is limited to its subject matter because of the subject in the image. With abstract art, if one wants to speak of religion, he or she has a better chance of drawing the viewer in without turning them off because of the limitedness of the image and literal meaning that comes with the image.

Next time you look at abstract art, look at the title, the date, the name and where the artist comes from. Then, assess what you see with what you already know about the time period, the culture and what the title is trying to tell you. If you aren’t good at retaining history or social politics, research and come to your own conclusions. In any case, all art is open to interpretation. And if you still don’t like what you see, then at least you tried.

Understanding abstract art – Part 16

Understanding any art form of expression must first start with the observer opening themselves up.Coming to art with a closed mind leaves you with a limited sense of perception. As for abstract art sometimes we try to look to deeply into what the artist was trying to express.Unless the artist themselves makes a statement about the work of art we must approach it for what it says to us.

Art is made up of lines, shapes, forms, and color arranged in a composition within limited space. When we look at a painting how does it touch our emotions. Do we sense tension,anger,peace,balance, or even love. The art is only a portal to draw the observer in. Look at the colors and how are they applied. We may see reds and black plotted on the canvas in a harsh jagged manner.This may bring about feelings of rage, anger, or violence. A painting with smooth flowing lines of blue may make us feel tranquil and at peace. Colors have been shown to evoke emotions and feelings but this may be centered on the individual and his past experiences.Life is a continual learning process.

As we mature and learn about the world around us we are are in a constant state of evolution. Thus when we observe an abstract painting ten years prior to the present we may have concluded a completely different interpretation as we do in the present. Even a painting by a realist may be seen differently from one to another. Art can be appreciated at different levels. It may be judged on execution, style, expression, and communication to name a few. For most of us it is the expressiveness and what it communicates to us. Few of us are art critics or teachers. So when you look at an abstract do not be to critical.Accept it for what it says to you and how you feel.No artist paints to be liked and understood by everyone. We can though, appreciate an abstract painting for the mere fact than the artist showed us a part of himself, his emotions and feelings in an every changing world.

Understanding abstract art – Part 24

Art Or Maybe Not

My dear sir, in answer to your inquiry for advise on this very complex subject of Duchamp’s Fountain, I can honestly say I would not like to be in your position. For one to consider a urinal must less a mass production of a urinal, to be art is more than I can grasp. To give you my best advise, would take a great deal of investigation. Therefore, to better understand this matter, I interviewed Marcel Duchamp. This was not an easy job, for I had to go to the Dada’s society to find him and came in contact with some very interesting people. I suppose most of them could be called war “resisters” or anti-war, for they were protesting against war, and everything imaginable. When I ask the question, what is Dada? The reply came from a gentleman named Tristan Tzara, “Dada is nothing, everything is nothing, and nothing is good” (Duchamp without Dada 8). After discussing this issue with Duchamp, I came to the conclusion that Dada is just a protest against the horrors of war and we the older generation must take a closer look at this artist and what they are saying. Contrary to the views of some Dada is not a bad organization; I, for one would like to make a statement against these senseless killings, horrors, destructions, and propaganda of war. Oh! Yes, to answer your request, well this is a problem, and a very perplexing one, which has cause me several nights of sleep. For me to answer honestly, I ask the question what is art? If art is anything man made then this urinal is in fact art. If, “Art-like beauty, truth, and life itself is larger than any single definition” (Artforms 2) then again we must assume that the urinal when placed in another position of use, such as a fountain, is art. If we take the definition of art as being “the quality, production, or expression of what is beautiful, or appealing” (Artforms 2) to be art then this urinal is just that, a urinal. Therefore we must consider the fact that Duchamp is making a statement and trying to get our attention by taking something ordinary and making it extraordinary. By doing this he has, in fact, created a masterpiece for he is poking fun at men who use their power for senseless mass killings. Art grows from common human insights, feelings; experiences that move us deeply and creates in us a need to share them with others. So Duchamp Fountain can in fact be consider art and in my opinion should be on display.

My dear friend, I do understand your position as director of the gallery,

Art history: Understanding abstract expressionism

If someone was to ask you to paint your soul, what would it look like? How would you begin? Is there any painting out there that reminds you of everything you want to say, be or feel? There is for me. It is the wonderful 1950 abstract expressionist painting of Jackson Pollack.

Abstract expressionism was an American painting movement which began in the late 1940s. The world had just emerged from two world wars alive, but terribly scarred and battle worn. Loving parents had lost their sons, wives their husbands and children, their fathers. Men had revealed to the world how terribly ugly human nature could be and the sight of that ugliness made mankind sick. So when it came to art, the beautiful dreamy Impressionist scenes of Pierre Auguste Renoir’s life portraits, the tranquilly peaceful landscapes of Claude Monet and the twirling ballerinas of Edgar Degas just couldn’t stir hearts like they used to. In a way, the world’s innocence and naivety had been violently stripped away, like a maiden ravished in an open field. Fauvism, with its deep, bold colors was too strong, too aggressive. And Cubism was simply not soothing enough. The world needed art that summed up all its fears and emotions without forcing it to vividly relive the horrors of the battlefields of Europe and the South Pacific. Abstract Expressionism answered that need.

Abstract Expressionism is a style of painting wherein the painter is free to burst free of reality as we see it everyday before our eyes. The painter allows his or herself to transcend this world, this reality, and float away into another world where anything is possible. It is this infinite possibility that enables both the painter and his audience to express everything that they want to express but are unable to find the words or actions. The beauty of abstract expressionist painting is that one can see both everything and nothing at the same time, feel everything and nothing at the same time. It draws its audience in, mesmerizing them, giving them a chance to exhale, to breathe a sigh of relief. Abstract expressionist art wraps its audience in a soft, white blanket of cool emotion and says, “It’s okay. You can relax and be calm.”

Abstract expressionist paintings allowed grieving mothers and fathers, wives and other relations to reach out and connect with their deceased loved ones, something only possible in the abstract world. It allowed people to say everything they so desperately needed to say. It allowed them to take all those jumbled up emotions and come face to face with them on the surface of a canvas. It allowed people, the world, to heal.

Today, when I look at Jackson Pollack’s Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist), I see myself . I see my thoughts, my hopes, my dreams, my past, my present and my future. I see all the tears I’ve ever cried, all the times I’ve laughed hysterically and every moment I’ve passed in quiet reflection. I see everything in a way that’s otherwise impossible. I can’t explain it. But somehow, I see all of me.

The shortcomings of modern art

Art has evolved over the years in many ways spawning numerous schools of thought in the process. To some, the artistic ideal was to create an almost photographic representation of the subject matter being portrayed. Impressionism was a revolt against this Realism and sought to break away from it’s rigid constraints, and rightly so. What’s the point in creating a straight duplication of a subject when you might just as well have a photograph instead? Art should never be reduced to just a straight copy otherwise the artist hasn’t really contributed his own thoughts and feelings to the final piece. Modern art then took Impressionism a step (or twelve) further until it became less and less recognizable as to what the final product was supposed to be. Now this, I believe, is the first place where Modern Art can fall down.

A work of art should have the quality of being able to communicate something to the viewer. Contrary to some peoples belief though it is not necessarily something beautiful or aesthetic, like puppy dogs and chocolate box cottages, but could equally be something unattractive or broken down, like a bleak landscape or a rusted old car. The key thing is that it creates an impression on the person viewing it and communicates a certain idea. In this quality some pieces of Modern Art are woefully lacking. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t be so naive or arrogant to dismiss all of modern art with a single generalization of “it doesn’t communicate anything”. I really like some of it, but when someone has put a few house bricks in a square or let three monkeys loose with some paint and a canvas, the end product fails to communicate anything. The viewer is then left to do all the work by trying to figure it out or he is helped out by an overly lengthy title given by the artist to add the significance that he failed to get across in his piece of “art”.

Another key way in which Modern Art can fail is by the lack of knowledge or expertise on the part of the artist creating it. People see the apparent simplicity of technique used by the expert artist in his work and then consider mistakenly that they are just as cable in achieving an equally good result. The truth, unfortunately for them and the people who then have to look at it, is that all great achievements are built on attention to fundamentals. Without a good foundation in the basics of a subject one is not able to achieve a competent result. Most of the talented artists, regardless of their style, first had a good grounding in drawing, perspective, composition, color mixing and the various techniques, and then went on to develop their own unique style.

All I can say is lets hope good sense prevails and the more absurdly abstract art forms die out like so many passing fads.

« Previous Page — Next Page »