ashakarc, Thank you for the background. That’s really very interesting, I always think of architectural concepts, as being rather dry and precise images. But thinking about it, buildings like the Guggenheim in Bilbao, or Selfridges in Birmingham, are so far removed from the normal notion of a building, and so abstract in their form. I’m suddenly very curious to know how these architects approached their designs.
Architecture has really embraced the fact, that with modern materials, you can make any shape you can think of. Not just a roof and four walls, must be where the phrase; ‘thinking outside the box’ comes from. Also the public seem to have been very accepting of abstract forms in architecture. Possibly because, unlike painting or sculpture, buildings provide a recognisable function in addition to their aesthetic.
hcross, I found your post very thoughtful, with some interesting questions.
When you buy flowers and put them in a vase, or fruit in a bowl. Do you just plonk them in and forget it. Or do you carefully place the items so that they seem to sit well together,
and somehow feel harmonious. You’re not measuring it, or judging it against someone else’s bowl of fruit, your using some internal sense of judgement, and anyone else, would be able to see that those things were not just random arrangements. Well I think it’s that internal sense that is largely brought to bear when looking at abstract work.
When your son scribbles on paper. Is he just scribbling? or is he exploring that magical space we call paper? is he, in the words of Paul Klee, “taking a line for a walk”? Further more, is the quality of line, so searching, and so engaging, that you are drawn in and can’t help being fascinated by the movement through the page?
In many ways, Abstract Art is, Occam’s Razor applied to art. See Maurice Denis’ definition of painting in my previous post. It requires looking at things for what they are, rather than what they signify.
Look, I know someone. Who, if you show him a tiny fragment of a motor bike photo, chances are, he’ll be able to tell you what make, model and everything else about it. You guessed it, he’s interested in motorbikes. It’s not compulsory to like, or be interested in anything. But abstract art is no different from any other art, in that you have to have an interest, and have to be prepared to learn a lot. A good place to start. Is to look at the really good stuff, get some of the historical context and try to see where it’s impact can be felt in a wider social context.
You lose me a bit here. Very few, artists working in the fine arts, can survive just from their artwork. And the majority have to do other work, the full gamut from teaching to labouring, to support their own art practice. It does annoy me a bit that, footballers here in the UK can earn up to, and in excess of £50 000 pounds a week to play a game, while others work long hours at supermarket checkouts, and are expected work during public holidays for peanuts. Life is unfair.
I agree. It was his figure, on the cover of Peter Ratners book, about human modeling. That got me really fired up about 3d. I haven’t seen a better figure than that in 3d, esp the hair.
