What Is Abstract Art?

By Author: Emma Canvas
Total Articles: 2
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Many art theorists teach that the value of an artwork often lies as much in the perception of the viewer than in the intention of the artist. Abstract art is a perfect medium by which people who view it, take their own meaning from it. This is because abstract art is more about loose form, colour and linework than exact replication of real life.
History of Abstract Art
From the Renaissance era up until the middle of the 19th century, Western art was created using the logic of perspective, meaning artists were attempting to reproduce reality in their paintings, sculptures and drawings. The closer to the real life subject it was copying, the more successful the artwork because most people could relate to what they could understand by seeing.
Outside of Europe however, artists had a different way of making art and at this time, these cultures became accessible to Europeans with development in technology and travel. These cultures and their unique ways of making art began to influence European artists and by the end of the 19th century, many artists felt a need to create a new kind of art which ...
... would encompass the fundamental changes taking place in technology, science and philosophy. Art became more diverse and less restricted to the logic of real life replication. Artists opened up to the exploration of all types of social and intellectual preoccupations in all areas of Western culture at that time and this is where abstract art was born.
Abstract Art Today
Many people today find it difficult to relate to abstract art, while others appreciate the strange shapes and forms, beautiful hues and textures that can often be found in these artworks.