To be perfectly honest I have my misgivings about Art 108. It seems to primarily pertain to the philosophies of modern art rather than the technique of conventional art. This may stem from the fact that I've never much cared for abstract art. It may be a matter of personal preference but then again it may be that I have a difficult time venturing into that realm of abstract. Our first Excercise in class was to use a piece of paper as inspiration for an abstract or "Nonrepresentational" piece. Told to manipulate the paper (i.e. folding it, rolling it up, crinkling it up) we were then suppose to sketch the whole piece or simply a section that's structure/shape intrigued us.
It sounded easy enough but here's where I found confusion in the concept (and still do). Upon reflective examination, I realized that my first 3 sketches were in fact...just sketches of paper. At least for me it still was Representational...of paper. After another 2 or 3 sketches and I stopped referring to the piece of paper altogether and instead just created shapes I felt could potentially be created by paper. But no matter what I tried and 15 sketches later, I looked at my work and all I saw was ... paper.
Proceeding with the assignment, I chose the one I preferred the most but then I examined why. It expresses the duality of opposites in a single subject. A contradiction, as it were, in one self. Needless to say I identify with this. But was this not just another Representation of myself or my psyche? This is when the thought entered my mind; Can ANY piece of artwork be truly Nonrepresentational in the eyes of the artist? Based on our inspiration, we know what is was/is, we know what is means to us and we know how it makes us feel. But what about the audience? Obviously they can't get into our heads so at this point many of those aforementioned aspects become subjective. Is this what makes art abstract? After context, medium, size, environment, etc are taken into account. How will it make them feel? What will it mean to them? Will they see paper?
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