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The term
"abstract art" is like the term "modern
melody" in the sense that it is a very broad
umbrella sheltering a wide variety of art. But like
"abstract math," the general sense of the
term is that it is the opposite of the concrete, or
"realism." Abstract art can simply be seen
as traditional African art, which is an exploration of
the unknown forms and subjects to commune with the
spirits. As a result of wars and invasion of cultures
western artists and writers became influenced by the
unique forms of art. Hence we have numerous art styles
that are today referred to as abstract, modern or
cubism to mention a few, which are basically the
offspring of African art. At one end of the continuum
is a painting of a drum so perfectly rendered that we
feel we could reach into the frame, pick up the
instrument, and drum it. At the other end is a canvas
painted pure white or black all over. There is nothing
in it to reach in and touch.
A
simple, common definition of "abstract art"
is "not realistic." Yet many artists who
call their work abstract, actually do have a subject
in mind when they paint. They take a figure or
landscape and simplify it, exaggerate it, or stylize
it in some way. They are not trying to imitate nature,
but to use nature as a starting off point. Color,
line, and form are more important to them than the
details of the actual subject matter. They want to
give a sense or feel for the subject rather than an
exact replication.
Historically,
the term "abstract"
has been associated with a variety of art movements.
The cubism of Picasso, Braque and Cezanne was a
geometrical abstraction. In the United States , a
group also known as the New York school of action
painters were defined by critics as "abstract
expressionists." Yet the individuals in this
group varied greatly in their approaches. Jackson
Pollock did overall drip paintings. Mark Rothko
painted shimmering color field canvases based on a
simple square pattern. Willem de Kooning did not
abandon subject matter like the others, but abstracted
the female figure in much of his work.
Art that
has no intentional beginnings in any subject matter is
sometimes referred to as "non-objective," or
"non-representational." A related term is
"minimalism," or the tendency to take as
much away from the painterly surface of the canvas as
possible. A white square painted on a white background
is an example of minimalism. The end result is not so
much the point as the daring it took to get there.
"Modern
art" is another term commonly used to refer
to abstract art, though originally this term was used
to differentiate the experimenters of the twentieth
century from the traditional European painters and
sculptors. Thus, "modern art" began over
seventy years ago, and is no longer new. Many
movements in art have come and gone since then. For
example, "pop art" incorporates popular
culture such as comics and movie stars. Well-known
artists of this genre include Andy Warhol, who painted
Cambell's soup cans and portraits of Marilyn Monroe;
and Jasper Johns, who did a series of flag paintings.
"Contemporary
art" is another one of those terms that covers a
wide variety of art. The best definition of
"contemporary" is the work of any living
artist, though the term has also been used to mean art
that you would hang in a contemporary home. This sense
of contemporary is more like the term
"modern," in that it means the opposite of
"traditional." Thus, "contemporary
art" is also sometimes used to mean
"abstract art."
Another
way to define the term "abstract
art" is to enter it as a search term on
Google or Yahoo and look at the results. There will be
millions of them, proving that the term is used today
to cover a vast amount of art. I use the term
"abstract art" to define my own painting
because I know that people who love my art tend to
define it this way. They often find me by entering the
term on Google. Others use the term "modern
art" or "contemporary art" to find me.
So where
does that leave us in our definition of abstract art?
Like most definitions of art movements, the answer is
complex. We can look at it historically from an art
critic's perspective, or use it as the general public
would, to mean something other than traditional
realistic representation.
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