How Will You Define Abstract Art?

Abstract art is painting or sculpture which does not represent things in the way the eye sees them, but instead concentrates on arrangements of shapes and colors for their own sake. All good paintings are concerned with arrangements of that kind to some extent and, in reality; abstract art differs from representational art only in concentrating on this aspect to the exclusion of others.

In the West, abstract art is a recent development, no older than this century, though there are several quite different kinds. It is sometimes difficult to decide what is truly art and what simply pattern is making.

Much Islamic art is abstract because Muhammad condemned the maker of images, who tries to imitate God by creating living beings. This did not mean that Islamic artists should never make pictures of people, only of idols. Nevertheless, no pictures of people are to be found in Islamic religious art.

What is the purpose of abstract art? Abstract paintings and drawings are a playground of visual delights. In abstract art, the artist can create worlds of color and contemplation. Abstract artists use form, color, line, texture, pattern, composition and process to present ideas and evoke emotions in a poetic, nonlinear fashion.

Abstraction indicates a departure from reality in depiction of imagery in art. This departure from accurate representation can be slight, partial, or complete. Abstraction exists along a continuum. Even art that aims for verisimilitude of the highest degree can be said to be abstract, at least theoretically, since perfect representation is likely to be exceedingly elusive.

Artwork which takes liberties, altering for instance color and form in ways that are conspicuous, can be said to be partially abstract. Total abstraction bears no trace of any reference to anything recognizable.

In geometric abstraction, for instance, one is unlikely to find references to naturalistic entities. Figurative art and total abstraction are almost mutually exclusive. But figurative and representational (or realistic) art often contain partial abstraction.

Both geometric abstraction and lyrical abstraction are often totally abstract. Among the very numerous art movements that embody partial abstraction would be for instance fauvism in which color is conspicuously and deliberately altered vis-a-vis reality, and cubism, which alters the forms of the real life entities depicted.

Content for this question contributed by Gordon Brewer, resident of Washington, Wood County, West Virginia, USA