Abstract painting explained – Part 4

Art in general is representational or abstract, representational pictures are pictures which you can know what it means from a look at like a picture in your kid’s story an abstract painting is the one where you can’t know what it means instantly.

If we want to define Abstract Art we can say it’s abstracting everything that surrounds from its real form to a new form using colours, shapes & your imagination to describe it.

Abstract art is a high level painting technique which depends on artist’s deep thinking and deepest feelings and also depends on the viewer’s understanding to what the painting say.

“We have to accustom the eye to listen to the painting” Paul Kelly.

There were abstract movements established like: Cubism, Futurism, Vorticism, Neoplasticism, Dadaism, Surrealism..etc. then in the 20th century art Abstract Expressionism was established , and this one was interested in not only the paint but how it’s painted , the material that was used in the painting from colours, papers, toolsetc. which means the overall painting process. Jackson Pollock (American, 1912-1956), Arshile Gorky (Armenian-American, 1904-1948), Franz Kline (American, 1910-1962), Mark Rothko (Russian-American, 1903-1970) are names that must be mentioned when talking about abstract art of this move.

A very well known example nowadays for abstract art are patterns created by graphic designers, most of the patterns are collection of colours and shapes forming a beautiful piece of art that can be repeated to create a prettier background for cloth, wall, …etc.

How to paint it?

The truth is that you have no rules to follow for painting such art, Which is the good thing about it yet a bad thing, it’s good to have no rules bounding you from doing what you want but the bad thing is that you have nothing to follow but your mind, creativity and imagination. Those are the only tools that will guide you, A one piece of advice you can take is reading more about this art and seeing other painters work and what their pictures means that will help you a lot in your path to being professional abstract art painter. So you can just get a piece of paper and brush and start to output everything you have. But always remember is as easy as it may seems as hard as it is, As abstract art is considered one of the most difficult arts as it requires a lot of concentration and a high sense of colours& shapes mixing to get to your point.

Abstract painting explained – Part 8

One of the most telling views of how middle-class Americans view abstract art is the illustration “The Connoisseur” by Norman Rockwell. In this illustration, we see a well-dressed man from behind as he views the artists representation of a Jackson Pollock action painting. The contrast between the realism displayed by Rockwell and the seeming puzzlement of the art patron portrayed is comical in nature, but reflects a cultural reality.

Americans, by and large, don’t get abstract art. It’s the same problem that is illustrated by the fairytale “The Emperor’s New Clothes”. Art is trendy and fashion conscious. It’s been said that the active popularity of an artist in his or her own lifetime is about four years. Before that they are unknown and after that they are has beens.But once you have reached a certain esoteric plane of culture, you don’t want to be the guy that doesn’t accept new and cutting edge art with open arms. At that point, in certain circles, you risk be labeled as a cultural neophyte, or worse as a cultural apostate. It is risky for the average art patron to state their displeasure or disgust at some niche art representations. It is even riskier for corporate or sponsors of public art to admit that they don’t readily accept everything they are offered.

That is not to say that abstract art should be dismissed. On the contrary, abstract art illustrates a natural flow of the role of the artist as the Recorder of History to the artist as Interpreter of Ideas. Before technology allowed humans to artificially record actual events using cameras, the artist served an important role as the visual record keeper of key historical events. That is why we have countless images of battles, marriages, coronations and famous people in our museums. Even in America, begun as a social order without a royal echelon, our leaders such as Washington and Lincoln were portrayed for posterity. If you jump forward to the end of the nineteenth century, you find the work of the artist becoming more personal. Instead of world events, the daily lives of average people were elevated. After the advent of Sigmund Freud’s writings on the nature of the human condition, artists went even further by attempting to capture the images of dreams, of nightmares and of emotions.

And this leads us to abstract art. It isn’t always appealing on the surface. In fact some of the earlier abstract art is deliberately repellent. Who can look at Picasso’s “Demoiselles d’Avignon” and not find

Basics of art appreciation

Art is not essentially abstract. Art is about looking at the world from a different point of view. Often taking a mundane or simple aspect of life and causing the viewer to re-question and reconsider its meaning. It is about putting on the brakes.

Pretty pictures are sadly and surprisingly to some people not actually art. The more scenic, the prettier and the more aesthetically pleasing a painting… the less likely it is art. Those well painted and realistic flowers that your Gran likes are not art!

Good art can be something you don’t like at all, something you hate. The stronger the reaction whether it positive or negative the more successful the piece. Great example for this .. Emin’s unmade bed. The only people I know that like this piece are artists who can appreciate the conceptual implications. Yet its success is partly to do with controversy it caused. No wonder it won the Turner prize and was snapped up by Saatchi for a cool million.

The best thing about art is that its so rich and diverse, the possibilities are endless. Art is intelligent, exciting and magical.

How to compose abstract art

I think you have to have an understanding of what abstract art is before you can make it. There are a lot of great abstract artists out there that one can draw some inspiration from. For me I get a lot of inspiration from Marcel Duchamp, Francis Bacon, Robert Rauschenberg and many other modern artists.

First you have to find a meduim that you’re comfortable working in. I usually work with acrylic paint, but lately I’ve been experimenting with oil paint. Oil paint give you a great texture that you don’t get with acrylic paint. Some of the drawbacks I find with oil paint are, it smeels bad and takes a long time to dry. But these are minor drawbacks to deal with.

I also use collage in my paintings. I tend to paint no representational things in my paintings. Which works well with abstract painting. I don’t always have a set plan on what I’m going to add to a blank canvas. I just usually let the brush goes where it wants to, and in the process things will begin to take shape. As for colours, I choose what ever i feel like using at that moment in time. Some of my canvases just have paint on them but like I said before I also like to incorporate collage, or mixed media if you will to the painting. The state of the painting dictates whether or not collage should be added.

To create abstract art you really have to have a wild and vivid imagination and to be able to suspend your belief in anything representational. Abstract art isn’t going to be something that’s readily recognized by the general public. And it will give cause for people to question if it’s art.

Collage can be a really fun medium to work in. It will make you a packrat and you will find you’re saving anything that you find of interest and usefullness to use in your art. It will also make you aware of the things that are a part of your daily life and you will in turn have a new outlook on items that you would normally think of as trash.

One of the easiest types of abstract art that I like to make are called “scrapes.” The best thing to use in making these are illustration board. It holds the paint better than reagular mat board would. Although you can use mat board, you will just get a different look. It won’t be as glossy. And the best paint to use in making “scrapes” is acrylic.

To make a “scrape” pick out 3-4 different colours that you would like to use. Squirt a line of paint across the top of the board, this will be you background colour. Then take the other colours and squirt them around the board. You can do this any way you want, and the way you squirt it on the board will maintina the shape when you scrape it. After you have all the paint on the board, take a scraper and and scrape down on the board and then you will have a wonderful piece of abstract art. The more you make them the more you will be willing to experiment with them and add collage to them or what ever else takes your fancy. You can make these with oil paint but they don’t come out as nice.

So however you choose to make an absttract piece of art just remember to bring to the table and imagination and a desire to make something that is unique. Take a look at other artists work and see if it ccan help spark some drive in you, just don’t copy someone elses work. Always put your own spin to it.

Individual interpretation of what makes art

Individual interpretation of what makes art

What makes art has been a long standing debate amongst the world for hundreds of years. The art scholars will give a very defined and different description of art than will the street artist found in the intercity.

If we define art as, and I will paraphrase since I don’t remember the man’s name who said: Art is something which someone gets more out of than the artist put into it. This statement becomes prevalent when we look at the movement of “found art” by talented individuals attempting to polish up their intercity neighborhoods and the depressed areas of the county. I have heard it said more times than I care to have that found art is only a pile of junk and not art. It is only my opinion but this rings of a closed mind or someone who has been listening to long to the art colonists. This is like saying, Rap artists arent street poets.

Everyone isn’t going to like this article or the one you have written but that doesn’t mean either one isn’t an article. It is only their personal opinion. Art at its very basics is something that is pleasing to the beholders eye. There is an old adage which states: “It is in the mind of the beholder, not the mind of the beholded.” But that doesn’t mean the way a drop of oil spreads out across a pool of water is art. That is unless someone reproduces the image on canvas.

In art class 101 you are taught some basic rules of drawing and painting. The two big ones are prospective and how the piece draws the eye from top to bottom and left to right. So then an artist who doesn’t follow the rules isn’t an artist? Then we would be forced to say Picasso wasn’t an artist since his prospective of human anatomy doesn’t follow the human form. Pablo Picasso was an abstract artist, abstract art follows non-correctness of form. We don’t have to like Picasso’s woman hating idealism, but we have to say he indeed was an artist who made art which some people don’t like.

I believe art can and does exist in many shapes and forms. I say this knowing I am only one of a minority. Although I do believe an artist should know the rules before he or she breaks them. The exception to the ‘rule’ would be early cave drawings and Egyptian art since there wasn’t a set of rules for perspective set down during this time in history. These were the artists individual interpretation of the subject mater in the art.

Art is constantly evolving as our civilization moves from one century to the next. Art along with literature is what keeps our blood warm with passion, and passion is what moves civilization from one century to the next. The next time you look at a painting which incorporates steel shavings into the canvas or a tire rim, a rusty piece of pipe, and barbed wire welded together look at what the creator, artist was representing. It still may not be your cup of tea but you just might see the art in it.