Abstract Art - Is this really even art?

Last year when I was under the pump with painting, my mum (sorry mum) helpfully suggested that maybe I could get one of my sons to help out with painting my canvases 😱 Gasp!  Of course, she meant well, and to her way of thinking, getting help with slapping on some bright base colours to the canvas would help alleviate my workload. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.  I can also confirm we didn’t roll this option out 🤣

Abstract art despite the appearance of simplicity at times, can have a surprising degree of difficulty and complexity.  I have had canvases drive me all kinds of crazy, as I have tried to manage all of the elements of composition, shape and form, value and balance.

My youngest son (16) who’s a very talented artist in his own right one day said – I could do that when looking at my art.  I was like go for it honey….so he tried, and well you know how it went - he didn’t go so well.  I was quietly delighted but unsurprised when he said – that’s actually harder than it looks.  No kidding. 🤔

I have the deepest respect for fine-art artists that have done their 10,000 hours and who can apply the necessary skill/time required to create a masterpiece. But I also want to acknowledge there is value and skill and legitimacy in modern/abstract art despite appearances.  

I have found IG comments overwhelming positive, but I had one person comment (there’s always one) who said  ‘my much younger 8 yr old sister can paint better than you’.  Of course, I decided to rise above (definitely wasn’t feeling that way on the inside) and replied – ‘oh wow that’s amazing, cheering her on’ – they in turn decided to scale up and came back with an equally sassy comment, at which point I’m like you know what, possibly not worth the energy at this point Rachael.

There’s a quote in modern art circles where the critic says ‘I could paint that’ to which the artist replies ‘But yeah you didn’t’.  I’m guilty of seeing an artist’s work and thinking the exact same thing, followed by dang ….clever idea, why didn’t I think of that – point is I didn’t.

So maybe next time you look at an abstract and think I could do that - maybe there’s more to it.

Love to hear your thoughts 😊