Bassant

The origin of abstract artworks has changed the way we look at modern art in general. It was a significant shift from the traditional painting styles and allowed the artists to go beyond the references to real-world objects. Depending on the choice of artists, abstract paintings can be quite simplified or filled with complex shapes and patterns, pulling your attention to the composition. 

It has been almost 100 years since abstract art came into existence. Not to mention, it was quite a radical transformation at the time of its origin. However, despite being around us for so long, many artists as well as art collectors and lovers still don’t feel comfortable exploring this unique form of art. Many people do not understand its significance and how it has revolutionized our perception and ways of perceiving artworks. In this blog, we will explore some unique reasons that would help establish the importance of abstraction in present times. 

Creating Abstract Artwork Offers the Freedom to Explore

Since this art style steers away from the traditional style of creating fine art paintings, it also offers more room for artists to explore. It is an independent style of art that doesn’t rely on illustrations or representations from the real world. Hence it frees artists to explore the depths of their own thoughts, creativity, and perception of art with these paintings. 

Elevates the Burden of Accuracy and Realism

Artists often feel scared of taking up difficult compositions out of fear that they may not be able to depict them accurately. There is always a looming fear of doing justice to the subject that they want to depict. However, with abstract artworks, this fear can take a backseat. It puts them at ease because they do not have to worry about the accuracy of the depiction. An artist can always create abstract paintings with unintended inspiration and no worries about accurate depiction. 

An abstract painter might look at a room full of people and decide to paint it only with geometric shapes and patterns. Instead of using accurate proportions to draw human figures, they might choose to only paint their silhouettes or just create random patterns in different colors to express what the room makes them feel. 

It Encourages Viewers’ Involvement

Unlike other schools of art, you cannot take a glance at an abstract painting and tell what it is about. To truly interpret the painting, you will have to observe the composition and study the nuances of its colors and shapes. It compels you to engage with the work. You will have to spend time with the painting and then look within yourself to decide how it makes you feel. Depending on your emotions, mood, and feelings, you can interpret it however you feel it best.

What makes it even more beautiful is the fact that abstract art is always open to interpretation by the viewers. A painting that may make you feel gloomy might be inspiring for someone else. Every individual is free to interpret an abstract composition as they wish and none of it is ever wrong. The open-ended nature of these paintings has made them an interesting choice among viewers and modern art collectors. 

It is not a Hall Pass to Skip Technicalities

If you think abstract art is your free ticket to creating artwork without any basic knowledge of art, you couldn’t be more wrong. While it may seem like a random canvas of colors and patterns it is not. If you look at any famous abstract art of old masters, you will realize that they are well-thought-out art pieces. Just because they had the freedom to explore, they didn’t forgo basic rules like the color theory, balancing of the composition, and other minute details. They were just smart enough to camouflage these rules under the cloak of abstraction and wilderness. 

Abstract Art is a Legitimate Form of Art

If you are still worried about the legitimacy of an abstract artwork, wondering if it truly is art or not, you can now set that worry aside. Abstract art is a perfectly legitimate piece of art and it was established years ago after different abstract art movements emerged and taught people why they are relevant. 

To elaborate on this point further, think about what art truly means to you, or anyone else for that matter. Most people call it a means of expression and an outlet for freedom. Since it is a mode to freely express then how can we limit it to real-world objects or anyone’s idea of what art is? The core of art lies in its adaptability, flexibility, and creativity and it can vary for every individual artist. 

Abstract Artworks Are Changing The Perception of Modern Art

With the adaptive and dynamic nature of abstraction, it is slowly gaining popularity among art collectors. Even though many people still do not understand it, it is now gaining the recognition it truly deserves. With efforts from different art galleries like TERAVARNA, which often organizes abstract art competitions and different exhibitions, people have started embracing it with open-heartedness. If you have come this far, I hope the blog might have helped you change your perception of abstract art and help you understand why it is so important.

It started on tumblr [citation needed], we've all seen the "a e s t h e t i c" tags and all the blogs dedicated to the many many different types of aesthetics. I have spent the better part of 4 years collecting, studying, and categorizing theses aesthetics. I do have a formal education in art and architecture so I sort of know what I'm talking about. I'd like to share with you what I've found. I've also made a chart (link) of my findings. This chart is very rough and not meant to be taken as fact. It is how I've categorized almost 700 different aesthetics but that is not even close to how many there are. I do plan on expanding it more. If I get some attention, maybe I'll make more posts that dive deeper into defining this new art movement.

In short, today's use of the word "Aesthetic" is a noun that refers to a title/word given to a specific atmosphere, emotion, feeling, or vibe that a collection of images evokes when viewed together. A comparable approximation would be a "mood board".

Anything can belong to a particular Aesthetic; an art piece, a song, an entire show, an outfit, etc. In my opinion however, its very rare that a singular work can express an entire aesthetic. As stated, an aesthetic is a very specific emotion. Thus, in most cases, a singular work (work here referring to any form of expression) is likely to be interpreted in a multitude of different ways. The only exception to this is if a particular aesthetic is based on a very specific motif found in a particular work that is unique to only that work and from there new pieces can be made that also carry that motif or relate to the original work that the aesthetic was built upon. This will be discussed later. Not every genre of art can express an aesthetic, for example, some aesthetics may not translate very well to fashion, imagery, music, etc. That is to say that it may not be possible to express the emotion evoked by the aesthetic through other mediums other than the original medium the aesthetic was created in.

In summary, an aesthetic is a collection of images that evokes a specific emotion. Most often, this emotion is evoked through the combination of particular motifs found in each work that contribute to an overall "vibe" or atmosphere. These motifs can then be used to create new original works that belong to this aesthetic.

There are a multitude of categories of Aesthetics that I have identified and some of them may seemingly contradict this definition. We will discuss these later. There is also much overlap between specific aesthetics, it is extremely common to find that an art piece may belong to multiple different aesthetics.

What I thought that meant: telling us about unique sculpture materials and paint mixtures.

What that actually meant: an 84yo woman gingerly holding a beautifully beaded and embroidered dress (apparently from Ukraine and at least 200 years old) and, with tears in her eyes, showing how each individual thread was spun by hand and weaved into place on a cottage floor loom, with bright blue silk embroidery thread and hand-blown beads intricately piercing the work of other labor for days upon days, as the labor of a dozen talented people came together to make something so beautiful for a village girl’s wedding day.

What it also meant: in 1948, a young girl lived in a cramped tenement-like third floor apartment in Manhattan, with a father who had just joined them after not having been allowed to escape through Poland with his pregnant wife nine years earlier. She sits in her father’s lap and watches with wide, quiet eyes as her mother’s deft hands fly across fabric with bright blue silk thread (echoing hands from over a century years earlier). Thread that her mother had salvaged from white embroidery scraps at the tailor’s shop where she worked and spent the last few days carefully dying in the kitchen sink and drying on the roof.

The dress is in the traditional Hungarian fashion and is folded across her mother’s lap: her mother doesn’t had a pattern, but she doesn’t need one to make her daughter’s dress for the fifth grade dance. The dress would end up differing significantly from the pure white, petticoated first communion dresses worn by her daughter’s majority-Catholic classmates, but the young girl would love it all the more for its uniqueness and bright blue thread.

And now, that same young girl (and maybe also the villager from 19th century Ukraine) stands in front of us, trying not to clutch the old fabric too hard as her voice shakes with the emotion of all the love and humanity that is poured into the labor of art. The village girl and the girl in the Bronx were very different people: different centuries, different religions, different ages, and different continents. But the love in the stitches and beads on their dresses was the same. And she tells us that when we look at the labor of art, we don’t just see the work to create that piece - we see the labor of our own creations and the creations of others for us, and the value in something so seemingly frivolous.

But, maybe more importantly, she says that we only admire this piece in a museum because it happened to survive the love of the wearer and those who owned it afterwards, but there have been quite literally billions of small, quiet works of art in billions of small, quiet homes all over the world, for millennia. That your grandmother’s quilt is used as a picnic blanket just as Van Gogh’s works hung in his poor friends’ hallways. That your father’s hand-painted model plane sets are displayed in your parents’ livingroom as Grecian vases are displayed in museums. That your older sister’s engineering drawings in a steady, fine-lined hand are akin to Da Vinci’s scribbles of flying machines.

Happy Monday, everyone! I’m back with some more motivation to start your week off right (and write) ✨

I’ve received some amazing DM messages this past week, both supporting my works and asking for writing advice. So, I figured I’d share a little bit of my own philosophy here:

Your writing and art doesn’t have to be perfect. Seriously. Humans aren’t perfect, so why should we hold ourselves to unreachable standards? It is inevitable for us to make a mistake, and that is perfectly okay.

Do you know how many times I reread and edited Peter Hart? A lot. There were still a few errors that made it past the final draft. I kind of chuckle when I read them now, and recall that there were typos that made it through print on some of my favorite childhood books. It happens. But…I don’t remember the typos. I don’t remember the minor errors—I remember the stories.

Think back to your favorite book series—do you recall a typo or printing error? Even so, it’s most likely not a big deal. What matters is you’ve tried, you polished, you’ve presented the best possible art you could. And, most importantly: you ENJOYED it.

Art without passion and emotion from the soul is hollow. This is why AI can never “create” art like we can. People get their feelings of anger, joy, sorrow, love, lament… deeply human emotions, out there. It’s vulnerable, it’s beautiful. It’s human. That’s why writing and the arts are part of the humanities.

Look, I get it: If it’s a job, sometimes you have to push through feelings of lower motivation to reach a quota. But I always harken back to the beginning: Why did you begin in the first place? What inspired you to pick up writing or art as a career? What sparked the creativity in your soul, that you wanted to share your passion and vulnerability with the world? If you lose sight of that, you lose sight of what makes art enjoyable: the fact that it was created by YOU. Do you know how freeing that is? YOU are the masters of your own world.

Wonderful people, your art is beautiful because it is uniquely yours. And nobody can take that joy away from you other than yourself. So why not enjoy what you do? Why not find happiness in your penstroke? Why not lift yourselves up, instead of tearing your beautiful hearts down? Life’s too short, lovelies.

cruel hands of curiosity,

interest sparking

chemicals flooding

My attention is not here right now

this realisation, like

splinters

sinks from my skin to my bones,

a cold dread setting in fast

pelting a storm of fury into the palms of my hands; I can’t see

It’s okay, I’m safe

it’s safe to explore

my face flushes hot, like

lava

rising to devastate

but there is beauty in volcanic eruptions,

let it happen.

my mouth,

brimming with doom

parched-

I’ve felt like this before

ask it what it wants, go ahead

the pit in my stomach grows

deeper with every breath I take,

with the shallow rise and fall of my chest being the only reminder that heartbreak is a fictional term, not a medical one;

I remember everything.

my splintered sight is

so bright

so furious

and

unholy,

I remember everything.

it brings about an

unsanctioned welcome into my throat, and although it spreads slowly,

I can taste

bitterness

on my tongue-

I r emember,

I remember it so clearly I can never unsee again,

Seus dedos me tateiam a procura de algo vivo,

Sinta minha pele fria,

Sinta meus arrepios constante,

Sinta meus lábios arfarem,

Meus peitos se encherem,

Meus olhos castanhos ficarem afiados,

E te perfuram como nenhum outro.

Sinta meus lábios gélidos se tornarem quentes,

Meu corpo entrar em combustão,

Minhas pernas tremerem,

Meus olhos revirarem.

Me toque com graça como se fosse um piano,

Suas mãos roçam pelo meu corpo, com delicadeza acariciando meus seios grandes e fartos,

Se ajoelhe e me louve como uma deusa.

Seus olhos sempre foram tão brilhantes?

Ou é só uma ilusão da luxúria que me domina?

Eu não queria isso,

Nem queria que terminasse assim,

Seus olhos me desejam,

Mais meus olhos te enojam,

Eles tem sentimentos,

Coisa que você teme.

Mais eles também carregam o ódio de uma nação inteira,

O que você também teme,

Nosso ódio pelo mundo não é parecido.

Meus olhos queimam por vingança e ódio,

Vingança por um estado repressor, por uma morte, por um amor,

Os seus são vazios,

E por incrível que pareça eu temo o vazio,

Mas você não.

Me doara com sua língua,

Mas suas atitudes me tornam uma simples humana,

De uma deusa para um humana,

Once, I wrote you a poem

And you loved it

And you loved me

But what you didn't know, is that I wrote you three more after you said you didn't want me and I cried

I cried tsunamis and hurricanes

And I guess you could say I'm not over it

Because whenever I see her I feel a knife through my chest

A sharp pain

One that only you could inflict

And of course you love her now

I get it

She has a smile like the full moon

One that you have to stop and look at to see if it's real

It's mesmerizing

It engrosses you

And you've always been one to worry about looks

Well look

That's shallow

But I know

That the girl who writes poetry every time she feels an emotion is not what you wanted at all

I was merely the bus stop to your real destination

Some kind of

Procrastination

I was nothing

To you

Yeah, I get it

A girl who can light up a room is one you wanna keep, man, she's special

But I thought I was special too

See what kept me going was

You

And you were all that I wanted so I just gotta ask

Why'd you do it?

I hate to say this but I hope she breaks your heart

I hope you tell me

Every grueling detail

And the excuse she had

Because even though you'll be sad you'll understand the devastation you caused me, and all those countries that had to live with the great tsunami.

Growing Stars~

Before they're picked and pinned to the sky⭐🌟✨

I know this isn't ninjago guys but I finished this 17 hour painting for my art class and I was proud of it so...enjoy.