Sunday, June 14, 2015

Is it abstract?

Jackmanii.  Watercolor.
10.5 x 5.5 inches. 
An interesting debate cropped up on a Facebook Group that I lurk in--what constitutes an abstract painting?  The debate had practical application as well--the Group's Admin was deleting posts with art that didn't qualify per his definition of abstract.  One side of the argument was that to be abstract, the art had to be entirely non-representational.  The other side, advocated that by definition, all paintings are abstract because they reduce three dimensional to two dimensional.

I think there's a broad spectrum--if you're a highly realistic painter, just about anything else is going to seem abstract, for example.  Ultimately, though, I think if you're the volunteer Group Admin, you can run your group however you please, and what the Group Admin decides counts as abstract is the definition.  

Anyhow, this is a pseudo-abstract--riffing off the clematis growing in my garden.

300 lb Fabriano hot press
Daniel smith quin gold, phthalo blue rs, carbazole violet, a little cobalt blue, and a touch of crayon.





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