Abstract Art Originals: February 2009

Sketch In Pencil

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Art Being In The Abstract

By Bryon Zirker

Abstract art has a rich history and is filled by many talented and well known artists. It has followed after centuries of representational artists and has become very popular. You can find abstract art just about everywhere and represented in many forms such as paintings and sculptures.

So Why do humans create art in the first place: to make a decoration, tell a story, capture or preserve an image, or to illustrate an idea. However, another subtle, very important reason why art is important to people is we seek to fill the need to reach inside ourselves and manipulate our unconscious feelings. All of us people do it to a degree. We are not really aware that we are actually do it though.

Enter art. One purpose of art is to allow us an indirect path to our inner psyche. When you look at great art it stimulates the unconscious part of our existence, even if we don't realize it is doing so. So the role of the artist is to create an art piece that, when we look at it, evokes unconscious feelings and emotions within us.

Abstract art is very powerful in that it keeps the conscious distractions to a minimum. When you look at a representational art piece your mental energy goes to processing the images and the background. However, when you look at an abstract design, you are not distracted by meaningful images, so most all of your brain power is spent on feeling. You can actually open yourself up and let the energy and spirit of the painting in, and allow it to dance and harmonize with your psyche.

Now this only works when you actually cooperate with the artist, whose job it is to create a painting that is rendered skillfully. When this is done, what you see actually changes what you feel at an unconscious level. You need to clear your conscious mind of thoughts and preconceptions so as to open yourself to be influenced by what you are looking at. To truly appreciate any work of art, you need to be willing to let yourself go, put yourself in the hands of the artist, and let him take you wherever he wants, metaphorically speaking.

This partnership fails, either because the artist is simply not skillful enough; or because the person looking at the painting is not quite prepared to truly appreciate it.

Original Article