I had a chance conversation with someone yesterday. Somehow, we started talking about abstract art. He tells me that his painter friend has no patience for abstract painting.
I'm on the fence....and its chafing...badly.
I was at a art gallery opening several weeks ago for friends' friend -- who painted abstract art from nature's weather and sounds. I was quite enthralled by her works. I saw sounds and color, the shifting energy. I could imagine being in it and the feeling of being swept in its current, all out of her painted abstract form.
Now this gallery had also other artist showcasing their works, all abstract. I enjoyed them mostly till I saw some in particular which made me wonder, how art could be THAT objective? This artist used squared plexi-glass, where he just added minimal drips of color, then named them 'depression' or such things...I couldn't even remember. Definitely no Jackson Pollock here!
Has art turned into minimalist, abstract mishmash, claptrap? Or have I?
Which brings back to the chance conversation I had. My companion felt that the earlier works of minimalist or even abstract painters, began their illustrated careers studying under Masters and the 'old ways' of painting. And in their moment of eureka, took their previous paintings, stripped it down to the bare elements and tried to find truth and beauty in simplicity. He pointed out that many of those works had depth and meat that drew the audience in. And now, these works still stood against the tests of time, inspiring new generations of artists. He concluded that most works now had none of the background of the 'masters old ways' or even the learnings, so perhaps that is why the new works are lacking.
Whoa! A moment of eureka. I think my head hurts.
Degas (apparently) had said, "Painting isn't so difficult when you don't know ... But when you do ... it's quite a different matter!". I have to agree with him.
I am beginning as a sophisticated hick chick. But as I learn and understand more about art, and how I paint, I hope I end as an unsophisticated urbanite. Enough spinal-back to challenge the status-quo but still unjaded enough to always be in awe of art.
T
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