Abstract art: Is it "good"?

October 1, 2024

Dearest Friend,

Some people who visit my galleries have the honesty to tell me they don't understand abstract art. They say, "I want to know what I'm looking at." Or, "How do I know if it's good?"

Others try to make an abstract work representational. I see a flock of hummingbirds. That cloud is shaped like a dragon.

"Temptation" 60x72 inches. Acrylic on canvas.

No right or wrong when it comes to abstract art.

"Listen" 72x72 inches. Acrylic on canvas.

Abstracts are stripped down to the raw, primal elements of shape, color, light, and the application, quality and behavior of the paint.

Tate Modern museum says, "Technically, academically, abstract expression is characterized by gestural brush strokes or mark-making and the impression of spontaneity."

"Fire & Ice" 48x48 inches. Acrylic on canvas.

My abstract work is driven by energy and emotion. When I'm working with a color spectrum, I am moved by feeling. The shapes underneath my swaths of color are like portals to paths I did not take. They become part of the composition, the history of the work, like a person's inner life.

I'm inspired by Jackson Pollack's drip paintings, and Mark Rothko's color fields. Their work is like music. There is melody in the juxtaposition of color, harmony in the way colors blend, rhythm in the composition of the shapes.