Figurative abstraction
4yr
in your opinion what makes a good figurative abstraction and what makes a bad one? Is it completely subjective?
3yr
I think there are two angles: what does the abstraction mean for the artist and what does it mean for the observer. While I think for the observer it’s entirely subjective and therefore kind of irrelevant, for the artist it either needs to explicitly convey meaning/ideas or have it provided with supporting context.
E.g. a caption of sorts or a story gives abstraction meaning and intent and allows the viewer to determine if the artist has been effective or successful. Otherwise it’s just a subjective review of ‘beauty’ or ‘interest’ to make the artist feel good or not. In my opinion anyway :p
3yr
Incredible work, love the way you simplified some of the shapes on this one, while respecting the gesture. Awesome!!
3yr
Thanks!
4yr
It's hard to say. I'd need to think about it for a while, but initially my thought is that the gesture and structure should be more clearly and gracefully communicated than in a real model in that same pose. Interesting question... @Stephen Bauman any thoughts?
4yr
@Stan Prokopenko @Andrew Keith Some of it will come down to the kinds of gesture being expressed. There are curves that are quite simplified (fig. 1), which aren't often found in the human figure. The gestures in the figure are more often compound, a convexity for instance can contain many smaller concavities or flat passages (Fig. 2). I tend to associate these complex gestures with good figurative/abstract-figurative work.
