UNDERSTANDING
ABSTRACT ART
Abstract art, otherwise known as
Modern Art is a mystery for many people, including representational
artists. The untrained eye might have trouble understanding and appreciating it
as a serious art form.
An abstract art painting or drawing is one without a preconceived idea or recognize-able subject, one
which doesn't relate to anything external or try to "look like" something.
Instead the colors and shapes are the subject of the abstract painting. It's a completely
non-objective or non-representational.
Also classified with abstract art are figurative abstractions and paintings which represent things that are not visual, such as emotion, sound, or spiritual experience. Figurative abstractions are abstractions or simplifications of reality where the image still has representational foot, but detail is eliminated from recognizing-able objects leaving only the essence or some degree of recognize-able form .
Abstract Art represents what is being
felt on the inside rather than what is being seen on the outside. Abstract Art
is more than just a randomized mess flung onto canvas. The creativity within
these works of art is meant to turn heads and illicit new imaginations
within the viewer. In most circumstances, Abstract Art is filled with exciting colors and textures. These elements are what
make it one of the most favored forms of art collected today. A
strong piece of art is able to grab your attention and pull an emotional
response from within you. This is the artist’s plan to keep your mind thinking,
and analyzing and your eyes moving through the painting.
Abstract Art breaks away from
the traditional representation of everyday objects and familiar
subject. The viewer is not distracted by meaningful images, so the mind is stirred into feeling the energy and soul of the painting. Abstract Art does not reflect any
form of realism in fact, it breaks the
rules. The only requirements for such
paintings are shapes, colors, lines, patterns, and an unbounded
imagination to view the finished work! As artists we all have the need
to reach inside ourselves and rouse our inner feelings. Whether to
tell a story, to capture an image, or to illustrate an idea it is a universal
desire for both.
But if a piece
of abstract art is supposed to have significant value to anyone other than the
artist, it needs to have something that will retain the viewer's attention,
draw them in, keep them looking, and generate an emotional response. In that sense, abstract art is no different from realism.
CREATING ABSTRACT ART
Begin traditionally by copying
from life and gradually move into abstraction, try a copy of a photograph or
a reproduction of someone else's art, then start to "abstract" or
move away from reality, do not feel bound to represent it, only to use it as a
starting-off point.
It's much easier to use something 'real' as
the starting point for developing an abstract painting like photo and calligraphic
marks, then play down the elements like cutting and dragging shapes, adding and
subtracting shapes, swirling and expanding, etc. Which is a way or method to distort the images (in computer digital painting we can use available filter features of the graphic program) in order to get along with a completely non-objective or non-representational images, consider alternate colors, see the overall image or drawing to get a feeling of beauty. Then do it again, and
again. That's how ideas for abstract paintings or drawings are developed.
If you are feeling a strong emotion of any kind, try expressing it directly through color, line and form on the canvas. But remember that whatever method you use to begin an abstract painting, you will need to pay attention to composition, interest in shapes and lines, dominance, and look at the overall image to get a beautiful feeling in order to complete it successfully. Or you can do like an Abstract Expressionism Artist, which emerged in the 1940s, applied the principles of Expressionism to abstract painting in which paint was dripped, dropped, smeared, spattered, or thrown on the canvas, letting the next action flow naturally rather than forcing a preconceived idea of what to paint is a good example of making expressionism abstract painting.
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| This abstract image is created with JacksonPollock.org free flash toy that simulates the “action painting” style of American abstract expressionist painter Jackson Pollock. |
In general all painting is abstract in the
sense that it is not the object itself. Many who call themselves "abstract
artists" are Indeed painting a subject, but freely stylizing that subject to be a un-imagine-able or un-recognize-able object.
If you want to paint "abstract" but have trouble figuring out how to
approach the canvas, try taking a subject you have painted before and
abstracting it. If you are painting from life, for example, try squinting
your eyes until all you can see are the blurry outlines of your subject.
Forget the details. Take your brush or pencil and sketch in the broad
shapes and contours. Or take a very small section of your subject and stretched it up to cover the whole canvas.
Now look from a distance and see how your
composition unfolds, how the shapes take form and become interesting in and of
themselves, without reference to your subject. Keep playing with your
composition, adding and subtracting shapes, modifying color, strengthening
lines. Follow your intuition to what draws you in, scrap what doesn't fit, and use your own imagination of free styling the subject. Work fast, and
then stop and study what you have.
In general developing an abstract art is
no different from painting realism. The formal elements need to be there. Your personal
signature needs to be there. Just as an author develops his own voice, so does a
painter, so that the viewer or reader easily recognizes his style.
Abstract Art cover term that describes two different methods of abstraction: 'semi abstract' and 'pure abstract'. The word 'abstract' means to withdraw part of something in order to consider it separately. In Abstract art that 'something' is one or more of the visual elements of a subject: its line, shape, tone, pattern, texture, or form.
Semi-Abstract is where the image still has one foot in representational art. It uses a kind of free stylisation where the artist selects, develops and refines specific visual elements (e.g. line, color and shape) in order to create a poetic reconstruction or simplified essence of the original subject.
Pure Abstract is experimental art where the artist uses visual elements independently as the actual subject of the work itself in developing a non-objective or non-representational art.
Element is part of recognize-able strokes that form a subject or composition visually known as : its line, shape, tone, pattern, texture, or form.
