If you want to make a living at art, you probably will need to be an impressionist. People like art where they can say, “boy, that guy is good.” With “good” in this case meaning, the work looks kind of like a photograph. Representational art consumes …oh, about 95 percent of the available gallery space in America.

If you want to make people look think about the art instead of thinking about you, then abstract art may be the thing. The fact that few understand it is part of its beauty. Most likely, nobody will ever know who you are. You might sell some work to corporate clients – they tend to like the mystery and ‘non-statement’ kind of statement that abstract art makes – but you’ll likely live and die in obscurity.

It’s a lifestyle choice.

I didn’t say they were all too dumb. SOME of them are. Others are just ill-informed. It is fine if you decide that you don’t like abstract art having understood its nature and purpose. Deciding that you don’t like abstract art – or anything else – because you don’t understand it, however, is the definition of ignorance. If you are going to attack me, at least get your facts straight. –cp

Look man,if you have to keep expaining and justifying it ain’t art.

I DON’T have to explain it. I only provide information for those who might be interested. I think maybe you have tried too hard to “get” abstract art and not enough time experiencing it. For that is the point, you see; it is art to be experienced, not picked apart

Whichever works for you. I like to mix it up a bit. As for abstract art and the brass balls approach, I don’t think this applies to all abstract work and I clearly think it doesn’t apply to my own work. For a non-me example of how abstract art can warp your neurons, do a search for Kandinsky on the ‘Net and look at some of his stuff. – Pagani

The Artist Replies:

Do you really need to find enlightenment in art? Okay, the short version: There is a secret to all of this… but first, the Princeton definition of art: “The products of human creativity”; Or Wikipedia: “The term art is used to describe a particular type of creative production generated by human beings, and the term usually implies some degree of aesthetic value. An artist makes a work of art for various purposes, such as creating an experience for others or as part of a ritual.” – So whatever is art to the artist, IS art. The secret is coming up next…

Abstract art uses shapes and negative space rather than representations of actual objects, hopefully in ways that cause your brain to take a second look as it tries to (and sometimes does) discern a particular meaning or form. So the secret of abstract art is that the very lack of readily definable meaning causes your brain to work a little harder – maybe use a few more neurons! – trying to interpret the “message.” Many art fans and perhaps even most abstract artists don’t get this, unfortunately.

I admit that this neuron-baiting process doesn’t work that well in web images. But if you go to a gallery and look at some GOOD abstract art in person, you may find a startling effect. Therefore, to answer your question, enlightenment may be achieved by expanding your mind through the personal visual study of well-crafted abstract images. But I also know that abstract art which actually produces this effect may be hard to come by. If interested further, you may read my short article: The Meaning of Abstract Art.

If you perused my site a bit more, you’d note that I have written about why most Modern Art is Crap – so we might be in partial agreement, but you need to UNDERSTAND the reason WHY it is crap.

The problem isn’t with the concept of abstract art, for such art has an important place when you understand its nature and purpose as I have shown. The problem is that in recent times many artists have taken the route that I refer to as the BRASS BALLS approach to painting: Instead of working to produce pieces that expand the mind of the viewer, some lowlifes have been doing things like putting a single dot on a canvas and calling it “The Passion of Christ” or whatever – kind of daring you to “not get it.” I would STILL say that this is art, but in my opinion it is BAD art and closer to used car salesmanship than anything else.

Then they paint the canvas red all over and call it “A Dozen Roses”. Again, it is still art but the function is questionable.

The reason I think that my abstract art is better than most is because it isn’t “brass balls” abstract work but rather is produced from my deep and long-studied understanding of how visual edges, lines and visual fields interact with the neural wiring of the viewer, and how that interaction can work to produce non-standard and asymmetric brain effects. You can thank my degree from Western Medical College for that.

Nothing here should be interpreted to suggest that representational art is a lesser art form or that it is in any way inferior to abstract art. Abstract and representational work simply have different purposes.

BTW, I usually prefer a good bourbon. Your choice of the zacate ingles has its own unique and powerful mind altering effects as well but the policemen I see on a daily basis would not approve. — Pagani

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Clearly, you are not smoking ENOUGH weed. I mean, perhaps if you get high enough, you’ll finally grasp the true nature of art. Or not. Either way, however, I’ve covered this subject in a comprehensive manner so I’m not going to rehash it here. Someday, little one, – if you truly strive to transcend – you will know enough to discuss this subject with me. — Pagani

I will be attending the Toronto Academy of Realist Art. They will provide me with formal art training that is lacking at the university level. I strongly suggest you google the Art Renewal Center; as Art Renewal is a 21st Century Art Movement while abstractionism was 20th century art movement.

Simply put, not only is abstract art detrimental to young artists as it stunts their training, but it is indisputably no longer new. The 21st Century art world is moving back to representational art because it can more effectively communicate ideas that abstract art simply cannot do.

Additionally, (and I am speaking from my University experience) nearly every student at my school who creates abstract paintings cannot draw. We’re talking 200+ “abstract” artists who can not draw out of maybe 202 abstract artists at my school. Look up Art Renewal. There are people today who are creating real art. Stop this oppressive abstract bullshit now.

The Artist Replies:

You make some interesting points. I agree about the importance of accurate drawing and I believe that it is part of the process of developing the mind of an artist – though not necessarily an end in itself. I love representational art as a personal matter. However, I think you need to take a step back and remind yourself that art is an aesthetic. You either like something or you don’t. It is not a guidepost to life nor is it sign of the apocalypse. Therefore if there is any “bullshit” out there, it is the idea that there is some grand higher purpose to which we all must aspire.

Now we get into the problems, and they are many: I know you don’t want to hear it, but representational art has never been oppressed. It HAS (occasionally) fallen out of favor in part because there is so seldom anything that rises above the mass of millions of representational artists and paintings. But when did you ever see a mob gathered around a pile of burning landscape paintings, hmm? The idea that some type of art is being oppressed is one of those persecution-complex myths from which the unsuccessful suffer. My advice, therefore: if you love to paint people or landscapes or whatever, just do it and stop worrying about what others think.

In reality, most galleries I visit are full of representational art. And as a personal observation, my own representational art outsells my abstract art by at least 10 to 1. There’s a simple reason: it is the easiest to sell. Everyone “gets” representational art. Even a low grade moron knows a pretty sunset when he/she sees it. In fact, there has NEVER been a time when representational art was NOT the “art of the masses.” That doesn’t make it good or bad, it just means that if you want to sell a lot of paintings, you need to be a representational artist. Finally, if you need further proof that oppression of representational art is myth, I will remind you that the richest living artist – indeed, the richest artist the world has EVER seen – is a representational artist; Thomas Kinkade. If that’s oppression, give me a heaping handful, thank you.

Worst of all, however (and I will discuss this ONLY because you brought it up); the “art renewal” movement, of which I have been aware for decades, is far from the benign “values-oriented” art movement as it wishes to be portrayed. Rather, it is a complex anti-intellectual movement with strong (and extreme) political and religious overtones.

Whether you prefer one kind of art over another is a matter of personal taste. When you insist on politicizing taste, as the art renewal movement does, you have entered a danger zone that is much scarier than you may imagine.

As I’ve often said, if you ever wonder what is wrong with the world today, it may all be summed up in this; in much of the Western world, calling someone an intellectual is considered an insult.

Thank you for bringing your unique perspective to this discussion. – Pagani

Look, the previous poster is full of crap. While anyone can make random lines or splotches of colors, only an artist can coordinate colors and space to create a thing of beauty.

You are right on, Pagani, when you talk about the power of abstract art. Authoritative types fear abstract art and want to destroy it. KEEP FIGHTING!