Abstract Art – What Is It?

I mentioned recently that we had added our first abstract artist to the gallery. I was thinking that there are a lot of misconceptions about what Abstract Art is, so I thought I would include a post about it. It’s taking me some time to get my thoughts together in a sensible way, so I wanted to recommend an entry from Wikipedia.

Wikipedia begins their discussion about abstract art talking about visual language:

“Abstract art uses a visual language of form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.^[1] Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19th century, underpinned by the logic of perspective and an attempt to reproduce an illusion of visible reality. The arts of cultures other than the European had become accessible and showed alternative ways of describing visual experience to the artist. By the end of the 19th century many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. The sources from which individual artists drew their theoretical arguments were diverse, and reflected the social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time.^[2]

Abstract art, nonfigurative art, nonobjective art, and nonrepresentational art are loosely related terms. They are similar, although perhaps not of identical meaning.”    Read the full article here.

Abstract art has actually existed for far longer than the modern art movement know by that name, you can see examples of it in most cultures, going back as far as the stone age. (See the carving called Venus of Willendorf as an example of paleolithic abstract art.)

Here is an example of one of the abstract paintings currently in our gallery by the artist Mike Hayes:

Abstract Art by Mike Hayes

I hope this gives you a taste of what abstract art might be, I will finish my thoughts and post them here, hopefully, by the end of this week.

Please come by the gallery and see Mike’s paintings in person. (We also have prints of two of Mike’s paintings.)