Why Abstract Art Is Considered Art

Abstracting our thoughts to nothingness seems complicated. Through meditation some believe they can achieve a state of mind of complete blankness. The definition of abstraction is nothing more than an idea or thought which does not have a physical or concrete existence. Hard to visualise abstraction with a description, many artists have given their lives creating images of things that can not be found in our physical world, only on their creations. Avant-garde, and our contemporary artists have produced difficult intellectual art which is hard to understand, being sold for millions, is many times questionable if their creations are actually art. This has infuriated many people making comparisons with the so called “real art”. Creating the questions on how the contemporary, minimalist, or even abstract expressionism is considered less artistic than Michelangelo from the High Renaissance or a William Turner the Romantic painter.

Everything is created for a reason, chairs are created to sit, shirts are created to dress, and art is created to be seen. As raw as these comparisons may sound like, sometimes it is needed to dismount our thoughts to what things are in the moment they are created.

Art has had many phases, and to understand art today we need to understand its past. In all its course we are able to identify reasons and purposes why art was created. From the very beginning of civilisation at the Palaeolithic, in which the primitive man created paintings with pigments found in raw natural materials like plants, or scratching walls with rocks or bones, in order to create their famous engravings on their caves. Their art was mainly about hunting deers, bisons, horses or any other animal from the area. Their lives at this time were very redeemed to hunt, so the materials, the themes and subjects on the cave walls were essentially about hunting. Although this was not seen as art, but a form of ritual to attract luck to the primitive man in order to help them hunting, or in a more mundane situation of only a type of entertainment.

Progressing from the Palaeolithic Age of man to 3000 B.C.E. and 100 CE, the Egyptian were a transition from the old civilisation, with revolutionary architecture, sculptures and paintings. Using hierarchical propositions on their paintings also they did not have a sense of depth. Most paintings illustrate the lives of people and their daily routines, as well as rituals and the veneration of their gods. Showing a profile view of humans and a side view of animals, people’s bodies were always frontal with lack of realism however strong in symbolism. Hieroglyphs created by this civilisation were the very first form of writing, using symbolic images, which mainly abstract had very specific meanings. Which could mean words, actions or ideas. Not only known for their paintings and writing, their sculptures were also very import, although this art was not to be appreciated, but instead was primarily used for survival, and to pass information.

Skills as craving and sculpting were seen as specialised skills in the early societies. Facing Europe in the Age of Idealism, at Greek and Roman era (900 BC - AD 450) the artists were interested in creating perfect proportions, using mathematical equations, not only in sculpting but also in architecture. This era was extremely focused on the human intellect, including philosophy, geometry, cartography, medicine among many others and in consequence the artist worked on documenting all the different categories through paintings, sculptures etc. So far we can understand that in each of these eras, art was used mainly as a way of documenting the present and the knowledge acquired, heavily impacting the future to new creations.

In the Middle Ages (500 - 1500 AD) where Christianity predominates, also does the art about it, influencing the masses, depicting and contextualising religious figures. The architecture had a great impact on churches, chapels, cathedrals, all covered in paintings and colours. This age helped shape a new society that was eminent for over a millennium, creating art Masonic, Gothic and Carolingian.

Contrasting with the Christian regime, the Islamic religion does not figure God as having a body, instead uses colours, floral and geometric shapes to create abstract images of the god.

In the Renaissance period which was between 1300 AD to 1600 AD, finding at 1483 AD to 1520 AD the High period of the Renaissance, was one of the biggest transition in history. Technology, medicine, mathematics, architecture, among many others had a significant growth. Artist like Leonardo Da Vinci, and Albrecht Dürer directed their art on instructional drawings. These artists have preformed and documented for the very first time dissections on dead bodies in order to understand how they work. Being revolutionary at this time perspective and form were at their best. Private studios, workshops and academies start to appear. Remembering the noun 'Artist' as we use it today was not yet invented. Instead, people would be Specialist in a field such as sculpting, portraiture, anatomist, celestial cartographer etc.

The Baroque (~ 1660 AD - 1800 AD) was marked for a very technical drawing with perfect proportions. Creating great enormous paintings inside religious places. Art was still a tool of religion. At the Neoclassical (1660 AD - 1800 AD) art was used not only for religious proposes, but became also stronger related to political statement. People with influence and wealth looked upon having their grandiosity painted. As an example, the painting of Napoleon Bonaparte mounting on his horse by the artist Jacques-Louis David dated of 1801.

In 1800 to 1850, we are able to present a change, in which the artist becomes more creative, not so focused on the cannons, he embraces the human fragility through light, colour and symbolism. Embracing the individuals, the nature, and the imagination. Calling this period the Romantic Age.

From this we progress to Impressionism which lead to our Avant-Garde artist and in consequence of the art we have nowadays.

The impressionist artist felt the need to innovate, photography was starting projecting the reality and paintings has they used to be started losing meaning. Because if the technology is so advanced that it can copy instantly and easily what the human can see and the skill of a painter can project on a canvas, the artist will feel the urge to innovate. These very old cameras did not have the quality the cameras today are able to retain, a single photo had to maintain people stable for a very long time and to reveal the photo could take up to a day. Skills as drawing perfect shapes and proportions, and knowing the elements of design are still very important, many abstract artist acquired first the knowledge from the great old artist and then start innovating. Just like Avant-Garde creators who are experimental, non traditional and extremely unconventional. Referring to Expressionism and Abstract Expressionism, Fauvism, Surrealism, Modernism, Cubism, Pop-art, Minimalism, Dadaism, art Nouveau between many other artistic movements , these referred were the most popular and causing more controversy. As an example Pablo Picasso, who had both parents as painters, taught him how to paint from a very early age, understanding all the basics of painting. But soon got tired of realism and started innovating, being one of the creators of Cubism, a movement which is based on basic shapes as an example his famous painting Guernica, which is a piece showing all the suffering and devastation war can bring, no longer representing the old canons, but new shapes full of symbolism. It is a piece that can take you hours to read and fully understand all the concepts behind it.

In the 20th century people lives faced again another huge transition. The before, during and after wars had massive impacts. Technology was at its greatest, information never had travel so quickly around the globe, these affected every person in many different ways. Artists needed to express themselves, and to be themselves. Rather than represent reality, artists were interested in representing emotions and creating emotions. Edvard Much with his Expressionist painting The Scream transmits to the observer anxiety and fear, these agonising feelings, beside the life Edvard Much had with many unfortunate events in his family, many of this feeling were relatable with the ones the modern man had to face in his life. Expressionism was characteristically bright in colours we can resemble similarities with Fauvism. Abstract expressionism took a different direction from Expressionism, but still with many similarities. It was post-II World War art movement. Expressing chaos, was spontaneous, automatic, and mostly painting with subconscious actions. Jackson Pollock, who was the leader of this movement, created huge canvas laying on the floor which the artist would drip paint all over it, almost has he would be dancing leaving his body to control itself. Being the first movement in America to achieve international influence. 'At a certain moment the canvas began to appear to one American painter after another as an arena in which to act. What was to go on the canvas was not a picture but an event.' — Harold Rosenberg.

Surrealism as the names indicates is a movement which shows surreal events, using very realistic elements from our life, the artist distorts these elements, making it similar to a dream (as an example: melting, or making the objects longer than normal). At this time technics reaching the subconscious were gaining popularity. Freud came to the scene with very innovative ideas and theories about our dreams and subconscious. Salvador Dali is one of the artists most recognised for implementing in his work Freudian theories. As simple as some of his works can seem to a normal person, as an example, his Lobster Telephone, which in fact, anyone could have made, would not have the same impact on people due to the history behind it and all the technics used to achieve those elements together.

Just like surrealism, Dadaism was also one extremely controversial movement questioning everyone what was the actual meaning of art. It was very remarkable for its photomontages, but also artists like Marcel Duchamp created pieces like 'The Fountain” which was a mere urinal with a signature. It got many criticisms accusing the artist of an infantile humour, being rejected, and accused of indecency and plagiarism while trying to submit it to the annual exhibition of the American Society of Independent Artists. Marcel was insulted, being told that his own work (The Fountain) was not of an artist but instead the work of a plumber. Scandalising people with his creative mind, he firmly left the question of what art really could be. However, it is now at Tate, and it is considered a piece of art, but if it would not be at the museum or a gallery would it still be considered art? Is it the place, the frame or the pedestal, making a whole difference? Artists today are still trying to understand our society, quipping on creating, and making experiments. Banksy, a new genius who is inspiring new generations, is having one of the biggest voices in the art industry without being known. In October of 2018 one of his creations was sold for £1.04 million in an auction, shredding itself in front of everyone. Appearing later in social media saying ' The urge to destroy is also a creative urge”, one of Picasso famous expression. Banksy as publicly questioned why his art does not stay where it is meant to stay. Most of his pieces are graffitis on walls, which started in London and are now spread all over the world. His public messages about nowadays society and political ideas are portrayed with a magnificent sense of humour and it is what brought his artwork to fame. However, many people did not find some of his murals funny or morally correct, so a big extension as been erased or destroyed. “Never underestimate the power of a big gold frame' affirms Banksy, due to many of his works being exhibited in galleries and considered art, were initially on the streets. With this we can conclude as long as an object is being exhibited in a gallery it is directly considered art, however, if only seen on the streets causes doubts.

In contradiction to many movements, the artist Frank Stella said ' What you see is what you see ' while creating his Minimalistic artworks. This movement, to the nowadays society is extremely hard to be understood. For Frank Stella his creations did not have any hidden meaning. In contrast with Jackson Pollock, who was completely self emerged with his paintings, working with his full body and mind, opposing to the minimalist artists. Instead minimalist creators are working textures, colours, patterns and as a result with the order, simplicity and harmony. The factor that makes it so incomprehensible is the need to abstract your thought, along with the lack of references in these artworks. Comparing to Pop-Art, which has many references from our nowadays life, making it easier to be relatable and understandable. However, a sculpture of a bin bag creates speculation again, just like “The fountain” of Marcel Duchamp, even though it is an object of our lives, it’s hardly accepted as a harmonious object that people would like to contemplate. Again, we need to focus on the period these sculptures were created. The 'Bag” by Gavin Turk was made to remind the viewer of his wasteful, consumerist life, as well as highlights concepts of ownership, creativity and worth. Turks art is political and provocative, as he comments on cultural changes and social behaviour.

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