What Is Abstraction?
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- Опубліковано 30 чер 2024
- This turned out to be a BIG topic. I'd say this week we're looking at the ideas. Next week I'll demonstrate these ideas. Put them into practice.
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Ultimately, I think an artist's mission is to allow people to see things in a new way. Like putting the accent on a different syllable of a word. Same word, different sound.
Very nicely said. And you are right, it is not about a big original thing, but perhaps a subtle shift in something we take for granted and now see with new eyes.
I was never a fan of “abstract” art. However after retiring I volunteered in the local art gallery to hang and do stuff. One exhibition, masterly curated by the staff consisted of large panels of colour, all “abstracts”. I found every time I went into that gallery, I had to smile. I asked other viewers what emotions it evoked and they all said it made them smile. So from that point on, a few years ago, I’m hooked. Great series of vlogs, thanks.
Hi Philip to your point there is lots of non-representational paintings I really don't like. But then some I do. Like those ones that made you smile. Best wishes.
This reminds me of one of my favorite Mad Men scenes where people are talking about a Rothko. They are trying to "explain" it and one of them says you have to experience it, not explain it. It is here (the resolution is awful but the dialog is what moved me): ua-cam.com/video/mx7v5-kFzUc/v-deo.html
very interesting. Just today I tried to focus on 'loose' in two small studies, trying to forget all other 'rules'. Looking at them when done I liked them and next thought "they look abstract". This painting process is forever unfolding. At 85 it's great to be 'excited'. Thank you for your generous sharing! Fran NM USA
Being Canadian I like to reference Emily Carr and Lawren Harris whose paintings moved to greater abstraction. Your presentation of abstraction helped greatly to focus on the continuum rather than make the subject foreign to me. Thank you.
Love them both. There was a terrific exhibition of Harris's work here in LA, all the middle period abstractions before he went non representational. And Steve Martin the comedian/actor curated it.
I really enjoy the bite-sized episodes. It's so much easier to fit them into a busy day. Thank you
Glad you like them Catherine. I know what you mean, who has time for a 40 minute video?
@@IanRobertsMasteringComposition ME!!! I play the long ones while I'm at work and listen with headphones.
Like hors deuvre
Thank you Ian for creating this forum that has become part of my life. Such a rich art conversation that I have been longing for.
Thanks so much Molly. And you can take that conversation on the road too! Best wishes.
You addressed the "aha" moment I had studying art history. Art followed important philosophical movements which means, as you have said, it was always created looking through an idea lens. The importance of art to any culture is its visual representation of ideas that many people will never dissect, but through art, are made accessible to everyone. It is such an interesting way to think of the work each of us do. What is our idea lens? Brilliantly presented in just a few minutes!!
Thanks so much for sharing what you got from the video Carol. I appreciate it. Best wishes
Such a pleasure to watch this. Thank you.
You are welcome Mike.
Every time I Paint I have your voice in my mind now. Like “where are the verticals?”, “where is the point of interest?” Now I will aim for abstraction😊
It's true there's a lot to keep in mind, particularly at the beginning when you're eager to start painting, and perhaps feeling a bit impatient to start, to make sure you set a good foundation. All the best Susanne.
Thanks again Ian. My Tuesdays are special because I can take a bit of time and devote it to learning more about art and composition. You are doing us all a great service. We appreciate you.
Hi Cyndy, delighted you are enjoying the videos. I sort of think of them as something you can watch in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee.
Ian - you've lit up my art life. Thank you for being so generous with your time, reflections and expertise.
I have had your book, Mastering Composition for a bout a decade and found it extremely useful. So happy to have discovered these short and very well done videos- so succinct and clear. Great work- I look forward to the next one.
You are opening my horizons, thank you!
Thank you again for a calm exposition and clarification of a complex subject. I have not come across the work of Patrick George and I am impressed by the breadth of your references which cross cultures and continents. The George painting is a wonderful guide to coping with the cloudy landscapes we often find in the UK - here the grey sky is interesting and full of character. Today we are enjoying blue skies and masses of white and fluffy cumulus clouds as as loved by Constable but these do not happen every day! The Sargent Venice painting is wonderful - the joy of throwing caution to the wind!
Hi Ian, I've often thought I wish I could have seen Sargent paint that Venice scene. I'm in LA now and we have sunny skies all the time. So we have the opposite in a way. I mean I prefer it to two weeks of overcast drizzle but I wouldn't mind a bit more weather. Glad you are enjoying the videos.
You are an inspiration.
Thank you for sharing.
Thank you Ian for your insight & clarification. As artists we sometimes get lost within our work & not seeing the bigger picture of the process of master artists in the past. Thankyou .
Thank you for the series. I'm a watercolor artist and am inspired to keep pushing myself to learn new ways to paint in my medium. I'm learning about composition, light, the historical artists and their works and so much more that I can apply to my vision.
Glad you are enjoying the series Paula and you are quite right all this about composition and shapes and so on is the foundation for all mediums.
Love the way you explained the concept of Abstraction. Thanks.
Just found you totally by accident. I dabble in watercolor, more a crafter than a painter but eager to learn. I am learning ALOT about composition from your videos... and I am learning art history from you too! So thank you for sharing your knowledge and expertise.
You are welcome Karen. Delighted you are enjoying them.
Thank you Ian, for accurately explaining the world of abstraction in a short time.
I love this. Although it’s only a short video, it helped clarify what abstract painting is. I like the way you showed us the transition from stylised paintings to abstract paintings. Thank you, Ian 🙏 Anna
You're really a good teacher. You make your points in a memorable yet concise way. You clearly care about what you do and your insights are valuable. I look forward to each episode. I am a novice painter and I learn things from you even though I work on still lifes. Thank you.
Thanks Ian. Wow, this is a really big subject! Appreciate the information and look forward to next week.
Thanks Joanne. I kept cutting it down to fit my (self-imposed ) time restraint. But it is a topic worth entertaining again.
Thank you and All the best.
Thanks, so much... explained beautifully....finally got some idea of what abstraction is all about...love your work.😎
Great video (videos). I am a choreographer and my dad was a designer/painter. I so deeply appreciate your teaching, it takes me back to precious memories of my dad explaining to me (a seven yr old at the time) how to decipher the 'pushes and pulls' of energy and tensions of an abstraction by Motherwell. I think learning how to see compositionally (in any style) is good life lessons. Thanks much!
What a lovely image of your father teaching you that. Great example to with an abstraction by Motherwell. Thanks for sharing that with me. All the best.
Well, yet another very enjoyable and insightful video. I've been glued to your tutorials since I found them a short while ago. Thank you for the immense effort it must take, you do seem to enjoy making them as we do watching them.
Hi Paul, it is a labor of love. Really delighted you are enjoying them. Best wishes.
I am looking at my work with new eyes since I discovered your channel, and am challenged by it. Thank you
That (I hope) is great news. All the best.
It certain is Ian. Anything thst brings improvrment is welcome.
Such a good teacher!!
Really loving your videos. I'd love you to dive a bit deeper on abstraction. It's easy to understand what it is but not as easy to understand how to use it in my paintings.
Thank you very very much Ian! This video is the first that tells me, in a way that I can comprehend (I am an engineer by training, so "abstraction" is a really really foreign idea for me to grasp), what abstraction is. I have watched many many videos and read many many articles, and no one has explained it better than you did - and in only ~8 minutes!
I love learning anything on abstract. Thank you!
You are so welcome!
Look forward to and grateful for these bite size thoughts every week. Always makes me think.
That's great Barbara. Thanks for letting me know.
Thank you so much for taking the time to teach us. I learn something from each video. I take home something from your videos, and try and implement it with each painting. You make a difference, and I'm really grateful.
Thank you sir.
You are so welcome Stephanie. Delighted the videos are engaging you with your painting. Best wishes.
I really enjoyed and learned a lot from your videos. Thank you so much for making such effort. More power to you
Thank you! Your videos are having a significant impact on my work.
Glad you are finding them helpful.
Thanks for your teaching. One of the best art UA-cam I have encounter and needed, which makes my boring art journey find a way to go forward.
You are very welcome Cecilia.
Thank you Ian for a clear explanation of abstraction. Of course, I had an idea of what it is but you made it real. You make my lack of a formal art education less important. Thank you for your time and talent! You are a great teacher!
Thanks so much Ronnie.
More great analyses. You manage to build bridges between theory and practice in a way that is both insightful and helpful. Thank you for sharing your experience, knowledge and wisdom.
Thanks Mark. All the best.
First, I'd like to say that although I'm a (hobbyist) photographer rather than painter, I'm finding your channel a great source for improving my eye (well, hopefully!) as I shoot and, later, choose pics to massage in Photoshop (and this though my preferred style is urban photography, with its shallow depths of field). Very glad I found it.
Also, love that you approach the topic of abstraction, as I delight in playing in the murky areas where representational form all but gives up the ghost. Your approach that all art is essentially abstraction, and pointing out that the degrees of abstraction in art cover a spectrum, give me fresh perspective on ways to approach my subjects from snap to final PS edit.
Cheers!
So glad you found it helpful Robin. All the best.
Your Videos are very very helpful for me . Thank you 👌👌😍
Really enjoy your insights and your presentation. I have been trying to understand and to produce abstracts because I believe as you have pointed out everything is an abstraction! Thank you! Love your books too!
Thanks Jess.
Very insightful and well explained!
Excellent! Thank you!
You are welcome!
Thank you very much.
Recently started watching your videos and think I have caught up now. Really enjoying them and learning so much. Thank you.
Glad you are enjoying them Lesley. All the best.
An amazing seven minutes. Thank you so much for putting in the effort to bring us along in your thinking.
Thanks so much Lois. Appreciate you telling me.
Thank you, Ian, for sharing your knowledge with us. If I may add, sometime artists just play with materials and process and the work is born, there might not be any other big idea behind, or any lense.
Hi Ani, glad you liked the video. I think that might be true of some contemporary artists. Meaning last 50 years say. Before that there were some pretty well established lens on the actions and reactions that tended to construct the direction art was taking.
I’m fortunate I ran across this site. Great information. Thank you for sharing
Glad you are enjoying the videos Lucille.
Wonderful Ian, thankyou!
Glad you enjoyed it Kim
This was very helpful, thank you
Fabulous as always... such a great teacher. Loved the linear representation from realism to abstraction. Really hit home for me. Painterly being just behind the mid point. Love it! Thank you for all you give.
I like that "painterly being just behind the midpoint." Glad you are enjoying the videos Alison.
Just discovered your channel! Looking forward to following along and exploring your past videos, too. I like the combination of conceptual and practical in your videos. And your art is beautiful.
HI Scott, thank you for letting me know you enjoy my videos and painting. Glad you found the channel. Best wishes.
Children's art is usually a very basic abstraction of the real world. When young artists pursue a career as a painter, they usually work to improve their drawing and painting skills so that their artwork becomes more mature, stylistic and ultimately more "realistic." Many adult artists, however, are a strange lot, some hoping to create a revisionist world of their own, far beyond the beauty or ugliness of the real world around them. They use words like "hyper-realism," "surrealism," and "fantasy" to describe and justify their attempts to surpass and redefine the real world - a birthplace they seem to flee while bereft of the patience needed to fully appreciate and understand the endless intricate complexities of the natural world.
For some highly-trained artists, heightened realism isn't enough. They ultimately turn back, rejecting many of the critical rules and restrictions they had devotedly followed, and try to rediscover their pure and free, untainted "child" sense by returning to basic abstraction. After all, a child's drawing or painting is crafted with no pretenses, no allusions, no entitlements - just an honest and true 2D rendering of their 3D world as they rationally or emotionally perceive it. Thank you, Ian, for this thoughtful BIG topic video. Only wish your "BIG topic" videos were a bit longer.
Hi Christina, that's a nice look at the cycle of perception. Our vision keeps changing so obviously our expression artistically will keep moving with it. It is one of the great things about an artistic practice. It keeps you one your toes and engaged because it never sits still. Thanks for your comments.
Thank you Ian, you have such clarity in all your tutorials. I love your videos, watch every Wednesday morning in UK. I have only started painting since a year (doing a diploma course which of course is taking so much longer due to COVID), I have bought several books but yours is the one I return to time and again, frankly the best!
So happy you are enjoying the book and videos Nevine. All the best.
Thankyou .. enjoy your videos very much and looking forward to your next class.
Glad you like them Julie.
Great video ! Abstract Art and Figurative are 2 different languages but both have the same function : pursuing a dialogue with the universe
Thank you Ian !
Hi Christine, I love that idea of pursuing a dialogue with the universe!
Thank you so much for this brillant new video...
Thank you Odile. Glad you liked it.
Nailed it nicely in under 8 mins.A lesson in how to condense a book into an 8 min video. Brilliant. Thank You.
Thanks so much Pete. I kept cutting and cutting and hoping the threads of the ideas wouldn't come apart.
Thank YOU for an Interesting and Innovative way of seeing. From Cape Town.
3:50 This is Life,this is the meaning of it
Thank you so much
I'm working my way through your lessons and watching the current episode at the same time. I am really excited to learn all these new concepts. I think they will help me to be a better painter as I apply them to my practice. Thank you!
Delighted to hear it. All the best.
Thanks for this video Ian, you realy made my day !
Thanks so much for letting me know.
I think becoming more and more abstract takes courage. Courage to trust the concepts and conventions and your own skill to make a painting work. As a relative beginner, I am still stuck in the rut of sticking to realism. It feels like I'm honing my skills on it and getting ready to make the steps to make more abstract art. Funnily enough, it took picking up a brush myself and actually painting to appreciate less photo realistic work (heck, I used to not have ANY interest in traditional art). These videos, along with Michael Chamberlain's, are edging me towards taking the plunge and starting to plein air paint. I feel abstraction will follow naturally from there. We'll see.
One more thing: I absolutely LOVE the attention going to shapes and composition. This is nowhere covered as well as here. I'm starting to get it! And starting to look around me differently, especially when riding my bike around the country side. Engaging the vertical, looking for big shapes, etc. Fun stuff! Thanks for opening my eyes!
PS and now to do this on my favorite subject... waves! ;-)
Hi MIke, I'm delighted you are finding the videos helping you see in masses and design. And when you get to waves you just have to do the same thing. Masses, simple forms. Plein air can be a bit intimidating at first because the world is so big. Viewfinder, sketchbook, get an idea of where you are going before putting brush to canvas. Have fun!
You are correct in stating that the topic of abstract is complex, and seven minutes only skims the surface of the subject!
I agree with Denis’ view of art, that all art is an abstraction. It’s mastering drawing from the actual and moving to expressional, no matter the style.
In looking at some of the other definitions of the word abstract, it states, “insufficiently factual,” “ expressing a quality apart from an object,” and “having only an intrinsic form with little or no attempt at pictorial representation,” in addition to the one you used of “to draw away.” (Webster’s New Collegiate Dictionary). All of these definitions seem to apply to our understanding of abstract as it relates to art.
I think as artists, whether we are perfectly rendering or completely non-representational, we are interpreting what we see and determining what it is we wish to share with the viewer....that vision.....the intrinsic quality of.....what it is we see and what ‘story’ we wish to tell. We add or subtract as we see appropriate. Therefore, art, and painting in particular, can be a factual representation. But, at the same time, insufficient of all actual information. This is because we are only able to see what it is the artist wanted us to see. Even someone who accurately renders a subject still creates only an expression of what it is we as the viewer see......the marks are only representational; they are illustrative of symbols, shapes, people, locations that we recognize.
It is fascinating to create the spectral line of representational to non- representational to define the parameters of abstract. Likewise, the use of an “ideas lens” for stylization to give a certain view point or perspective is very intriguing. It certainly simplifies the concept and makes it more easy to comprehend. How to convey the message of the art you are creating, telling the story, becomes the challenge with painting. The use of color, brush stroke, et cetera, evident in the examples you shared like Bart, George, Sargeant, Matisse, , and others, all combine to create an emotive response to what it is we are observing in the composition of the painting.
Quite a bit to consider.......look forward to next week’s demonstration! Thank you, again.
Some great thoughts Ann Marie. Makes me happy that it sparked so many ideas. Just finished a painting for next week's video. And made me think I want to paint it again simpler, more striped down. It is an interesting process.
Thanks for this. I've never thought of abstraction in that way - that it could encompass representational painting because all painting abstracts reality to a degree. It's a much more useful way of thinking about it and for me seems to shift some of the intellectual weight off of the term abstract art.
Thank you!
You expertly explained a difficult topic - thank you - somehow you are able to simplify in words just as you do in painting .
So nice to hear from you Joan. Glad you enjoyed the video. With very best wishes to you.
very interesting video, thanks for this
As always informative, concise and what is really necessary and useful to learn. Thanks a lot :-))
THank you Svetlana. Nice summary. Best wishes.
Great and important topic. Monet had cataracts that affected his later works. He is one of my favorite artists. I'm only mentioning this as I have a stigmatism and sometimes enjoy removing my glasses when figuring out a painting as all of the details are blurred.
Hi Catherine, someone down below mentioned Monet's eyesight as well. And it's quite true. Even in the late work though it did not seem to affect his color. Or maybe he had such a grasp of it by then it didn't matter.
I stumbled on your channel today and I’m hooked. Especially with this subject - I’ve always preferred abstract art to representational. Can’t wait until your next video, but in the meantime I’ll have plenty to sink my teeth into 😊
Thanks great Lilian. Glad you like them. Best wishes.
Thank you for the BIG topic... I really like all discussion on abstraction.
My pleasure Lisa. Best wishes.
Thanks a lot 😊
Excellent. Simple, logical and scholarly. Great job of combining these. Anita
Thanks Anita.
Your channel is so good. I can not stop watching one by one to click thumb up and write thank you.
Now I write thousands of thank you.
thank you so much. I really appreciate your letting me know how much you are enjoying the videos. With best wishes.
very enjoyable to watch your episodes.
Happy you are enjoying them.
Beautifully explained Mr Ian. I find even the artists find it very difficult to explain their own abstract creations, instead of simplifying they make it more abstract. It's like making a simple maths addition or subtraction problem into a complicated trigonometric equation. Thank you for simplifying it. I just very recently came across your channel and went through some of your videos. You are very good at teaching too. That's very important too.
Hi Kunai, I'm glad you are enjoying the videos. All the best.
Thank you so much! This is what I want. I always paint too much details.
Really useful information and presented in an easy to understand way - so helpful - thank you
Glad it was helpful Nicky.
I don't how this come it just crossing in my list of video to watch. I am so lucky that I find your channel. Thanks Google❤
Thank you Ian. So interesting and helpful
Very welcome Lisa
Can't wait for next week, very informative and enjoyable.
Glad you are enjoying them. Best wishes.
Thank you very helpful..I'm somewhere in the middle right now..and it can be confusing at times !
As always, thanks...
My pleasure Norman.
Thank you. I'm new to landscape & this is the way in which I've been taught (portrait) but I'm finding it hard to apply it to landscape.
Hi Elle, the biggest difference between portrait and landscape, in portrait you have a figure (the head say) - ground relationship. In landscape usually the figure is gone and the ground then becomes the carved depth of space with things receding on that ground. Sort of different way of viewing the picture plane.
What artist would not find this subject fascinating ? Great job explaining this and letting me know I am slap bang in the middle :)
Yes doesn't that just make you feel right at home in the middle! Best wishes.
Thanks so much for this series! It seems "abstraction" can apply to facets of the objects that inspire a painting. That is, we can abstract from the perspective, the color (tones, hues, chroma), the textures, the shapes, etc., of things. The "lens" you mention might be a conventional pattern of abstractions. The puzzle is when do the abstractions become so unconventional, so great, or so many that we are tempted to say, "That's doesn't look like or represent the pitcher (or whatever)," or even "That doesn't represent anything at all." Your concept continua of abstractions is very helpful. Thanks again.
Thanks so much Bob. All the best.
I've just recently heard about you. I am only interested in creating non-representational intuitive art, so translating all of this relating to good composition has been an interesting journey since I picked up soft pastels about 1.5 years ago.
As I'm trying to steer myself, my art really, more towards abstracting the essence of what I want to communicate, I found several contemporary representational painters that help me understand this, such as Tibor Nagy, and Mark Laguë.
I think you're right you have the inner motivation and you find outer hints and confirmations of direction. All the best.
Excellent.
Many thanks!
Thank you for sharing your knowledge! I am very prone to trying to paint abstract figurative, I mean, including many "people" in the paintings. I also like very much some abstract mosaic of colors on those people. I wonder I could someday master this manner of painting, but I don´t know how to effectively start doing that.
Hi Marcia, I have ideas, like yours, different than yours of course, but directions I want to try and it is not always easy to figure out how to do it. I mean you just have to keep leaning into it. But I understand.
I really enjoy your insight and advice. A new subscriber but have seen three dozen so far!
Hi Joe, delighted you are enjoying the videos. You are cranking through them! Best wishes
Well done Ian, I agree a very current topic for many artists. I really like your comment that it is a natural progression at least for artists who are looking and exploring ideas to be expressed differently, it doesn't happen overnight. I see it in my own work from say 15 years ago to today, very different if you set the paintings out side by side chronologically. It is helpful to artists to look at a long span of time to see the evolution to an expression of themselves and that I think is so challenging when you see the work of others we admire.....how did they learn to do that? . Monet is a great example, he certainly could paint in an academic, tightly rendered classical way (see his early works) then he evolved to something so interpretive.
Hi Michael, glad you liked the video. I want to look at the work of a few artists, me included this week or next week and show exactly what you are suggesting, the shift over the decades.
Hey Ian, thanks a lot for your videos. I work in the animation industry as a background artist and I did not have any kind of course about painting during my studies so I find your videos very helpful. Have a great day.
Hi Florian, I am amazed these days at the quality of the backgrounds in animated films. Glad you are enjoying the videos. All the best.
What a great subject.
Glad you liked it Ann
Thank you , very informative and « open minding » ... cela ouvre l esprit! Merci
Glad you liked it. Best wishes.
I really enjoyed this! And while I see that for many the brevity is a big plus, personally I'd be very happy if you tacked on three or four minutes to future videos to talk about the art history relative to the topic, or used historic examples and linked them to the subject. I felt your presentation was both informed and interesting, and done in a way that avoids all the academic screeching one often encounters when the discussion shifts to "art".
Glad you enjoyed the video. I have so many people say they love the length. I sort of think it is a video you can watch in the length of time it takes to drink a coffee. I see so many art videos at 20 or even 40 minutes and I can't figure out where people get the time. But the idea of embellishing an idea with historical examples is a great one and even if it is over two weeks I should make a point of that. All the best.
wonderful explanation
Glad you liked it Joseph.
Love your vidéos, do you use oil and do you have one vidéo talking about what paint you use? Thanks.