Abstract Art - why talk about it if you don't get it.

[i-need-a-martini]

I volunteer at a regional gallery and get to meet some wonderful, weird and wacky people.

But the ones that get up my goat are the ones who say "That looks like something a 5 year old would do." and expect me to agree with them.

And whilst we have a lot of community exhibitions that are amateurish enough (so perhaps the comment may be fair enough), the comment is usually reserved for iconic artists in major travelling exhibitions who are extremely well known.

Does anyone here like abstract art? And if you really hate it, why?

[poddster]

That has been known to happen on rare occasions 😞

[rabbitearbandicoot]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

Anyone like to guess who painted this .....a   5 yr old (using a ruler of course)?,  someone famous?

How much it sold for?

To put you out of your misery it was painted by a Barnett Newman who in my ignorance I have never heard of,  and it sold at Sothebys for $45 million.

More here   http://twentytwowords.com/canvas-painted-blue-with-a-white-line-sells-for-nearly-44-million-4-pictur...

Newman overwhelms and seduces the viewer with the totality of its sensual, cascading washes of vibrant blue coexisting with Newman’s vertical “Sign” of the human presence, his iconic and revolutionary “zip.”

Wow. Now why can't I see that?

Again, in my uneducated and foolish ignorance showing itself, I'd say it is claptrap at its best.

But if anyone who has the gift of seeing and understanding greatness can explain it better to me i would be delighted. 

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I think you might be confusing this piece with his earlier work - Cathedral. TOTALLY different as anyone with an artistic eye can see.

[rabbitearbandicoot]

not to forget of course his other works. This one, Voice of Fire is a particular favourite of mine.

[bright.ton42]

No I'm not confusing it if you read the text in the link. 

I would love you to explain what you see in those  paintings. 

[rabbitearbandicoot]

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@bright.ton42 wrote:

No I'm not confusing it if you read the text in the link. 

I would love you to explain what you see in those  paintings. 

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Gawd, it's hard . well, the first one - blue and white; and the second one - blue and red. do I have to explain everything.

[bright.ton42]

[i-need-a-martini]

I don't know why I am bothering to respond to sarcasm but anyway...

Newman doesn't appeal to me although I have seen his work overseas but he is the quintessential existentialist painter. He represents the movement in art just as Kafka represents it in books.

And whilst Newman isn't well known or generally well appreciated, he sparked numerous other art movements and influenced a large range of other artists in the 2nd half of last century.

I know of him because he is, in architecture and design worlds, considered the catalyst for the Minimalist movement. Thanks to him the world of architecture and sculpture changed significantly.

Sometimes, as it is in Newmans case, it is about the work of art itself. A bit like the the Duchamp wheel is not just about the 'art'.

[myoclon1cjerk]

Kafka? A five year old could have written those books. ;D

[i-need-a-martini]

Of course they could have. Silly me for bringing another debate into this thread.

[myoclon1cjerk]

I'm no big fan of Newman or Rothko,but
" poddster 
poddster
 Community Member5:04 PM
J I suspect that it is not their talent that you envy but the income derived from their "creations"   You already have talent

You'll probably find Newman's paintings didn't fetch much until after his death,like V V G.