Somehow, we started talking about abstraction yesterday. Well, not unreasonable, as it is an abstract painting class. One student, Beth, said an abstract work reveals some kind of truth you didn’t know was there. That just about sums it up nicely.
I was having them work with sticks: using the stick as a painting tool. Along with brushes, mixed in before and after using the stick. The results were liberating. Several pieces reminded me of Arshile Gorky’s work so I looked him up on my iPhone. Gorky was my first true love. I love Gorky’s paintings; I named my first cat after him. It was hard to choose a photo of his work to put here; they just don’t look as good as in real life.
Gorky agrees with Beth about the essence of abstraction. There was a quote of his on the net:
Abstraction allows man to see with his mind what he cannot see with his eyes . . . Abstract art enables the artist to perceive beyond the tangible to extract the infinite out of the finite. It is the emancipation of the mind. It is an explosion into unknown areas.