In relation to painting what does the word Abstraction mean to you?

Question

My interpretation would be -
1. Breaking objects down into basic colours, shapes and textures.
2. Expressing an idea in a way that is non recognisable to objects in the real world.
What would be your interpretation?

Answer 1

Abstraction to me means expressing an emotion through non pictorial methods - it should be a representation of an idea.

Answer 2

That's a very open ended question, it all depends on your age... some older people would say "its a mess".
a 16 year old would possibly say "WOW how kewl is that"
Personally I find some abstracts hard on the eye.
Abstracts are broken images a
eye above a knee cap a mouth above your eyes and all painted in weird colours. i.e the one and only Picasso http://artwork.barewalls.com/artwork/LaLectureWomanReading.html?ArtworkID=64651&thumbs=1&productid=37049
Then when you look at the modern abstracts you get a totally different view of the term 'abstract' to some this modern form is more of a mess a phsycodelic merge of colours and not always a recognisable image just one example which I actually like http://mysite.wanadoo-members.co.uk/Keni_Robson_Artwork
Although this form of art work can fetch thousands of punds (or dollers) I feel that anyone with an imagination could produce such works, take a pot of pink blue and yellow paint a canvas and daube away LOL
sorry I tend to waffle on lol

Answer 3

Writing on semantics Hayakawa used Bessie the cow to illustrate the level of abstraction I don't recall it exactly but there was Bessie the cow, cows, animals, living things, objects and so on. There was also the time element of abstraction Bessie sub 10 a.m. was not the same as Bessie sub 11:45 a.m.

Answer 4

To me abstraction means an idea taken from the everyday mundane and made extraordinary or unrecognizable in its portrayal for instance a painting of a table but with the legs looking like they are melting.

Answer 5

I think abstraction is connected with psychedelic art. Psychedelic are, which involves modern, trendy, artistic, weird and sometimes the ugly are represented as abstracts wherein the artist's main imagination works with the weird side of life. Colors, shapes, textures and artist's imagination form the main recipe for abstraction and this is often referred to as Psychedelic Art. This is my idea of abstraction.

Answer 6

I think it is a non- representational and subjective art that emphasis
on the essential and spiritial qualities of the object,and represent the shapes and colors in a manner that are intrinsic .It begans in the early 20-th century and 'Wassily Kandinsky' and ' Kasimir Malevich' works are a good example for it.

Answer 7

The guy can't paint worth a lick and just throws paint on canvas and calls it abstract.

Answer 8

an interpretation of the world using imaginative media, unusual and even irrealistic.

Answer 9

Someome painting like a monkey and getting paid for it...

Answer 10

Then i think of just a blurr f colours... And a few vectors trhough it :S Isn't that strange?