Abstract art now lives in the art world in many forms. It is two- and three-dimensional. It can be vast or small. Abstract art can also be made with many materials and on many surfaces. It can be used in concert with representational art or completely abstract. Artists creating it often focus on other visual qualities like color, form, texture, scale and more in their nonobjective work.
The continuing interest in abstract art lies in its ability to inspire our curiosity about the reaches of our imagination and the potential for us to create something completely unique in the world.
A major obstacle to making an abstract artwork is the barrier in your mind that questions whether abstract art is a legitimate art form—legitimate for you at least. This block may be because you still wonder, “Is abstract art really ‘art’ at all?” Possibly you think you have to master realism before you can work abstractly? Or it could be that you worry your friends and family won’t approve?
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A way of seeing…
“The more I attempt to make something real as a painter, the more abstract it becomes. I love this paradox. As each year goes by, I’m increasingly engaged with the way abstraction and depiction, or realism—or whatever you want to call it—are actually intimately joined, and in constant struggle with [one another]. It comes down to how the world is perceived. Can I paint a forest without rendering a single tree? Or show the entirety of the forest with just one tree?” —Eric Aho
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