Is abstraction a deception?

Of course!

Abstraction was invented by people who, instead of working on their craft, decided to turn art into philosophical musings.

 

Wait a minute... or perhaps abstraction was born out of necessity?

Perhaps figurative painting ceased to be enough to describe the world. After all, we have cameras, photographs, and satellites; we no longer need representations of reality exactly as it is.

For thousands of years, painting has shown the world as it is, and additionally contained a commentary on it. It requires an enormous amount of work and practice to convey that and to be able to captivate the viewer.

Or you can invent a kind of "art" that pretends to do all that, because after all... "it's about emotions."

 

Hmm... abstraction requires mastering the craft, understanding materials, techniques. In fact, abstraction seeks new paths and tools. It needs them to describe those very emotions.

How to show delight, peace, tension? How to paint sadness without a tearful genre scene where a man dies in a lady's lap, she wraps him in her hair, and everyone cries (except the cat, of course)?

 

Yeah, if someone is content with smudged paints in muted colors, preferably with a strong contrasting accent, and a sign saying "Melancholy," then... I'm leaving.

Or maybe "joy" - let's use cheerful and vibrant colors this time. Straight from the tube. Dab here, wipe there, don't forget a few violent, uncontrolled movements!

 

Every art, treated seriously, requires the artist's focus and consideration of both the subject and the way it is presented. Does it bother you so much that abstraction can be created quickly? So what, if it fulfills its purpose. It evokes emotions.

That's why people like to look at it and wonder what they are actually seeing, why they feel a certain way in the presence of these paintings. It's better than marveling at how well a guy painted a toadstool.

 

Abstraction forces you to think? What a laugh! All these paintings are hung in rooms to match the sofa color, or in restaurants so they don't interfere with eating a schnitzel.

Everyone is an abstract artist now, because you paint such a picture for half a day (if it's complicated), and the rest of the time you look for inspiration, preferably by browsing other "artists'" Instagrams.

I don't know if another still life is more intellectually developing, but it's not for me to judge. It seems that the key is

the artist's sincerity and the viewer's sincerity.

Art must be created consciously, with a certain assumption about its purpose. At the same time, it should be received naturally. We like something, something else not so much. We don't have to explain ourselves.

Yes, I agree with you here, just as you'll admit that abstract art, at least in one aspect, the craftsmanship, is much easier.

If you draw a crooked horse, everyone will see it's a crooked horse. If you spill acrylic on canvas and glue on some gold (let's not forget the gold!), criticism is difficult. Let's finish, because no one is reading this anyway. I assume I won this debate.

I'll have to disagree with you there.