I love abstract art...

[Longgrain]

Believe me it actually takes a lost of skill to pull of a good abstract piece as well as an understanding of the principals of the medium you are using...why some people think it represents a lack of skill or an attempt at fraud, I'll never know...

Just saying...

[StopTheMorans]

1. i get your love of abstract art, but why post a pic of used toilet paper?

:shrug:

[tuvor]

3. Have you tried doing it?

I taught Art to high school students for a year, and let each of them pretend they were a famous modern artist. One of the normally brighter ones chose to "be" Pollock thinking it would be a cakewalk.

She didn't know what she was getting herself into. The painting was only about 3x5 feet, much smaller than a typical Pollock. But between just covering the surface, and obsessing over the way it looked, all of which took her several classes and a few days of after-school work, she'd probably be among the first to disagree that it looks like used toilet paper.

[StopTheMorans]

5. no, i prefer to spend my time making real art

i'm a musician :P

[tuvor]

7. But music is all abstract.

Does that mean you like some non-representational visual art?

[StopTheMorans]

15. i'm being facetious; i don't claim to have any understanding/knowledge

of art. i just like to stir up shit :evilgrin:

[tuvor]

17. You facetious shit-stirrer-upper!

:)

[IntravenousDemilo]

39. I agree...

That's what makes music a "pure" art-form. It is of itself and only of itself, not representational in any way of anything else, and without literal meaning. It's just pure emotion distilled as sound. Now, I don't mean it's a better art-form than painting, just purer. And I appreciate abstract art because it means that finally visual artists have been making an effort to catch up with their musical counterparts.

[Hand]

34. Pfui! Philistine... nt

[Fridays Child]

2. It didn't happen overnight but, eventually...

I came to appreciate the works of artists such as Pollack.

[Longgrain]

8. Especially once you realize the effort he put into it...

If you ever read anything about Pollack's life or seen any documentaries on him, you'd know that he started out doing figurative works. The transition to abstract was gradual and actually quite a struggle for him.

[redsoxliberal]

4. what a joke.

[bobbobbins]

6. Don't knock it till you try it

Organized chaos is alot harder to create than it looks

[redsoxliberal]

9. blank canvasses are really dificult.

(/sarcasm)

[BrklynLiberal]

10. As an artist, what is your opinion of Christo's GATES in Central Park?

Would that be considered 'abstract'?



I love it. I think that at least 50% of what is art, is the concept...and then there is the transference of that concept into a medium that other people can see, touch or sense in some way, and thereby appreciate in some way. "appreciate" of course, is open to interpretation in art.

EDIT: This thread shows some great pics of the plans for the GATES and some pics of Japanese 'gates' that may have inspired Christo
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=2637947#

[SlackJawedYokel]

13. Yes.

Christo is a conceptual artist and I love damn near everything of his I've seen.
From wrapping the Reichstag to his Running Fence, the Japanese umbrella piece or his wrapped islands.
They're all thought provoking and lyrical.

The funniest Christo story I heard was when he sent the piece "Wrapped Motorcycle" to a museum where it was unpacked to reveal a motorcycle.
The curators had "unwrapped" his wrapping.

Cletus

[BrklynLiberal]

21. That is too funny!!!!

[Longgrain]

16. I actually like it

His work I think is usually classified as Landscape art, I think?

I guessing his works, due to there impermanence, are often better viewed as photographs, which is the only way most of us ever get to see them.

[BrklynLiberal]

20. I saw a film about UMBRELLAS on PBS last night, and I was in Central Park

over the weekend, and as beautiful as his works may be visually, the experiencing of them is beyond words.
I think they really are meant to be experienced first, and to be seen as the second choice, if you cannot manage to experience them.
The reactions of the people in the film about UMBRELLAS was amazing. The people who were in California and Japan were crying and breathless at the experience of being there and seeing the umbrellas in the landscapes. The film showed several weddings under the umbrellas.
I can tell you that walking thru the gates and seeing the material flow in the breezes and sharing the experience with the other people was an amazing feeling. It really did make the gate seem like entrances to an alternative reality.

[SlackJawedYokel]

11. I love Pollock, too.

The retrospective at the MOMA was amazing.

The funny thing is that people don't realize that all art is abstract to some degree.

I'm more partial to Conceptual Art.

http://www.understandingduchamp.com/






Cletus

[Longgrain]

26. Duchamp!

Awesome...:thumbsup:

I love the story behind the crack in "The Large Glass"...

interesting stuff.

[johnnie]

12. I like abstract and surrealism

I'm not hip on say, a Monet, but something like you posted would look good in my house.

[Longgrain]

18. I love surrealism too

As you can probably guess from seeing my works, tho I've heard my work described as being more metaphysical than surreal. It's a technical difference, but it's there...

[ET Awful]

14. Agreed

I also like Rothko's stuff,


Wassily Kandinsky's stuff is pretty cool too.

[SlackJawedYokel]

19. And Barnett Newman

In an interview he said that the lines represented the purest form of the individual.
So all of his paintings are, essentially, portraits.

Cletus

[Longgrain]

22. People who've seen my paintings may be surprised to know

I was actually very influenced by Piet Mondrian...

[ET Awful]

23. I have an unfinished piece in my closet that looks like a

bizarro world version of that painting :).

Same bold black dividing lines, same colors, but totally eliminating all right angles and going for almost random geometrical shapes like triangles and the like.

One of these days I'll finish it.

[StopTheMorans]

25. stop repressing its identity, let it out of the closet!

[ET Awful]

27. LOL . . .

One day when it's ready, it'll come out on it's own. I won't force it. :)

[Longgrain]

29. I tried abstraction once or twice...

I never quite got the hang of it tho...

I was probably just too obsessed with the paint...

This was from a series I tried to do based on the E-Ching. I forget the title of this one, it's probably something like Fire over Water...

[ET Awful]

30. What's fun about it is messing with the textures :)

That's what make working in acrylics fun. Between the different additives and such for the paint, you can come up with some very cool stuff :)

[Fridays Child]

35. I love Mondrian. In his honor, I did these...

Les Chats de Mondrian

[Longgrain]

37. Those are great

An interesting take on his style. Plus mixing representation with abstraction. Awesome idea.:thumbsup:

[Fridays Child]

45. Thanks for the compliment.

:)

[Longgrain]

46. You're welcome

:hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

24. Christo UMBRELLAS Simultaneously in CA and Japan

California


Japan

[A-Schwarzenegger]

32. "entrances to an alternative reality"

You said that someplace above, I believe.

The photos are swell but of course dont convey the full reality.

A presentation like this, as you say, must be experienced,
and I think one of the most important effects is that it
short-circuits, for the moment, our way of seeing the world.
It reminds me that there are more realities to life than
mundane tedia, global horrors, sit-coms, propaganda, etc.

There is the ineffable, the silly, the mystical, the fun.

I saw the umbrellas up north in California. It was simply
wonderful. It was an alternate reality. I still see the
thousands of yellow umbrellas sprouting in the rolling hills.

Simply, there is far more to life than we usually are
aware of, and creations like Christo's remind me of that.

[BrklynLiberal]

38. That is the exact impression I got from the reactions I saw on the film

last night.
As wonderful as it might be to see Christo's creations in a photograph, there is nothing like actually experiencing them them live, which I think is what make them so wonderful. They are ephemeral and exquisite, and that is exactly how he means them to be. His creations are like beautiful, unique butterflies, that you must be very lucky to see at their peak of beauty...and after that, you only get to see photographs.
The opportunity to capture that moment of unique beauty is very short.
That is part of his artistry, I guess.

[BrklynLiberal]

28. two more pics of the Japanese UMBRELLAS

[Longgrain]

31. Thanks for those, nice photos too...

Since I also respect photography as art as well, as most people around here can probably guess!

[DU GrovelBot]

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[Longgrain]

36. Yeah! Grovelbot has graced my thread with it's mighty presence!

:hi:

[jpgray]

40. I don't

I understand it's not easy to do, I just don't value most of the output aesthetically. I mean, I imagine it's also difficult to take a shit while standing on one's head.

[jdots]

41. sorry art and culture have been banned.

Patriot Act 4 page 6 paragraph 3

[Longgrain]

42. LOL

The final resting place for art...

[IcyPeas]

43. Longgrain et al. have y'all seen this?

it's very cool

http://www.whitehouseanimationinc.com/kunstbar.htm

[Longgrain]

44. Just got through watching...

Bartender one Jackson Pollack please...on second thought...maybe not!LOL

[ralps]

47. I love Abstract Art especially Jackson Pollock. Have you seen the movie

"Pollock" starring Ed Harris. Here is a Jackson Pollock painting from the Art Institute of Chicago
http://www.artic.edu/artaccess/AA_Modern/pages/MOD_8_lg.shtml
and here is one of my paintings that is to me Pollock like
"Dragonfire"

and here is one of the shirts that I painted in the Pollock style


:hi:

[Longgrain]

48. Hi again ralps...

I love that shirt! And I think I saw that painting before in the Artists group:thumbsup:

I'm glad I'm not the only one who admires painters like Pollack...

:hi: