I get very frustrated with people who say that they "just don't get it" when it comes to abstract art. My usual feeling is, what is to "get"?For most people, their response to art is based on its initial visual aesthetic. Whilst artists may like to think it important that their audience do indeed "get" what they're trying to say with a piece of art, most will find that the reaction they get is usually different from what was expected. Abstract art is one of those types of art that divides people on an aesthetic and an intellectual level. Some people will not be able to see the 'point' of it and even deride it as nonsense or use the phrase, "my four year old could do better than that". They may scoff at the artist's skill and technique and think it self-indulgent or pretentious.
For me, abstract works needn't be anything other than an experiment in colour, line and space etc which ends in something which is visually appealing or stimulating. Technically speaking, i guess you might more accurately call them "studies" in abstractionism. If the viewer "gets" something out of it, either seeing shapes or textures in it that remind them of something like painting pictures from clouds, or perhaps it gives them an emotive response, then that's great - but it's not my driving force in making abstract work. Yes, i guess that does make abstract art a self-indulgent pursuit for me - it can be very cathartic to splash paint about and then stand back and pull out some meaning from happy accidents in the paint. The fun bit comes when i then, with all seriousness, ask my partner, "so, what do you think?" The squirm on his face is usually rather amusing as he tries desperately to come up with something to say about it when his only true response is based on a Marmite aesthetic feeling of does he or doesn't he like it.
3 comments:
wnqrppyHi!
you really have git something in the abstracts, Also of course you can turn them round and they might become something else, that always annoys me when people try and be clever and say things like that, but it sometimes works!
Very true.
I spent something over a decade getting various qualification in art theory, and I don't recall any lecturer or student talking about enjoying a painting.
Art was something to be "read" and "deconstructed" like an academic essay.
It can take a while to get over your education.
hi Kapitano, thanks for the comment. Well, i think anyone that looks at art and can't come up with an emotive response, perhaps loving or even hating it, is having a very "dry" experience of art. It would be very sad indeed to think of art purely on a theoretical level wouldn't it? yes, the cultural, historical and even technical discussions can be fascinating, but if art doesn't touch one's sense at a deeper level, what's the point i ask? I'm glad you've managed to "get over your education". Teachers can be such a destructive lot. I know from experience that my school art teacher put me off art for a long, long time because of his lack of joy about his subject.
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