The image you see here is entitled "Ancient Garden". The subject is a very old Japanese garden with rocks and a plum tree. In this picture, the white represents the rocks, the red is the plum blossoms and the green is the moss growing on the old tree branches. for those familiar with Japanese gardens, the image may be easy to decipher, but others may see nothing but colors.
Abstract pictures such as this contain plenty of space and tangible objects, but can also be read as just a pleasing combination of shapes and colors. Other abstract pictures are deliberately flat. The abstract paintings of DeKooning, are rich with solid objects and believable space. Most of us have seen those pictures that appear to be nothing but an abstract pattern, but if we stare into them long enough, we see a marvelous 3-D image. Well, a lot of abstract painting is like that.
When we look at a nice landscape picture, we have no trouble understanding it. We see the sky above, the earth below and all the other elements that make up our everyday visual world. In an abstract picture, we are seeing the same world, but through the particular vision of the artist. some see the world as flat shapes, others as objects in space while some see only colors. regardless of the approach, if the picture is well made we, the viewer, will be pleased by it.
I like to think that my painting is pleasing to the eye regardless of the subject matter or level of abstraction. I could have painted the garden just as I saw it and it would probably be just as pleasing, but I wanted to go beyond pictorial reality and explore the visual experience. Painting abstractly like this allows me to get closer to the randomness and haphazard patterns of nature. There is order in nature to be sure, but when we look at the way moss grows on a tree branch, there is no particular order or pattern to it. Scientists call this chaos theory.
are you confused by all this? If you follow this blog, I will be talking more about abstraction and hopefully will make it easier to understand. As you begin to understand abstract pictures better, your enjoyment of them will increase proportionally.
A note about the materials in this painting. This picture is made using traditional Japanese materials known in the west as mineral pigments. Mineral pigments are just that - ground minerals. The minerals are mixed with hot glue and dabbed on the picture and not brushed on as one would with conventional paint. Mineral pigments give a brilliant deep color and texture similar to Navajo sand paintings, but I will save all this for my next post. Stay tuned to learn about mineral pigments. Thanks for listening, Patrick, AKA Potlick
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