Guide to abstract painting styles - part 1
Copyright (c) 2012 Alan Mc Keogh.
When is art not art? When does art warp real people or objects to the point where they are no longer recognizable? As a painter of both real and abstract or "non-objective art, I have to say - it's a great question. It's one of the Best all-time Art questions there is!
With abstract art, artists feel that art and their paintings don't necessarily show people or scenes or objects / things that are easy to recognise. The painter or artist changes the object or thing in some way. In their paintings they did not try to show people, animals, or places exactly as they appeared in the real world.
Dali, Gauguin and Picasso were famous for painting animals and people or pretty much anything in an abstract way. They did this with color and by changing shapes in their paintings to reveal emotions that conventional ways of painting might otherwise not show. In many cases, abstract art can show more than ordinary paintings can show. Some kinds of Abstract art is also referred to as Non-objective art. In non-objective art, you do not see particular objects, and will look momentarily unfamiliar to viewers. It is not painted to look like something specific. The above painting is of a youth, painted some time back by me using oils, and it is abstract. It may look simplistic or altered in some big or small way. Abstract art will always be somehow altered or changed.
We are lucky to have abstract art in the world today. Without abstract art, there would be no comics of animated films, or special effects block buster monster films. There would be no internet in terms of art or graphics. There would be no Adobe Photoshop software or Corel Painter or Illustrator art software. There would be no Pixar films. The advertising world would be stuffy and boring to look at! Abstract art came about because some artists were tired of all art looking similar and following the same rules and "principles of layout" and "look". And art from the past few hundred years tended to be overly religious. Artistic tempers flared and so artists broke the rules they had learned, and they pushed art into a whole new level.
With most modern art now firmly free of the shackles and restrictions of the old ways, some argue that the spark of inspiration and individuality is not as noticable in new current art. As people we are more free-er to express ourselves through art, but if art is freed, there is a danger that art will have nowhere new to "go". That is why studying and looking at the Master Painters of Abstract art is important to all kinds of artists, even the ones who don't want to be abstract.
French man paints a masterpiece
In the painting above, Paul Gauguin a formerly religious but later anti-clerical French painter, emigrated to the tiny pacific island of Tahiti in search of a simpler life where he pondered the Questions of life and its meaning. While there he painted several master works, and this is perhaps his best.
Gauguin inclined that the painting be read from right to left, with what is three major figure groups illustrating the questions posed in the painting's title. Three women and a child are symbols of the beginning of life. The middle group represents the existence of young adulthood; and all this is done in a highly colorific way - the younger figures seem to Glow more than the other characters in this painting - and in the final part, an old woman approaching death "appears reconciled and resigned to her thoughts", according to Gauguin. On the left at her feet, a white bird represents the futility of words. The blue idol in the background represents what Gauguin described as "the Beyond." Of its entirety he said, "I believe that this canvas not only surpasses all my preceding ones, but that I shall never do anything better—or even like it."
When the painting was seen in European Galleries, it caused a sensation, and further pushed the boundaries of art. Artists such as Gauguin became celebrities of art. His use of thick brush strokes and high key vivid colours and choice of subject reflected his style in painting. His style is still unique in artistic terms. Gauguin was a one off-genius.
One Art, many styles
Georges Pierre Seurat was one of the world's earliest and revolutionary abstract painters. He founded the School of Neo-Impressionism and mastered and developed the technique of Pointillism, which uses small dots or strokes of paint to make up the paintings. From a distance, these dots or blobs or marks blend together to form the picture. The dots or "divisionism" caused by the separate marks give the impression of different colors as they blend together. This technique is used in modern printing and on the Internet, in Cinema, film, and all forms of print. Seurat is considered a master Painter and scientist in almost equal measure.
He gave abstraction great eminence and importance, as he was a student of Ingres, another earlier master painter. But when Seurat's first major painting was rejected by the "Salon" - the topmost important judges of art in that time - this made Seurat form a society of independent artists. His subsequent exhibitions of art made history, and he became the most talked about painter in Europe, as painters and public clamored to see how he had changed art by "divisionism". Seurat painted seven epic paintings, some 60 other works and numerous sketches that show how he created his works. Paul Signac was another famous artist who used Pointillism.
Art works from all over Asia.
ARTICLES - EXHIBITIONS - EVENTS
Art Galleries in Singapore