Is Abstract Art Staging a Big Comeback?

Sheeeeze, Mr. Wizard. Just as long as it isn't Duchamp and the cubists...let her rip. Nude Descending a staircase, indeed.

Was abstract art ever out of fashion? (Is my ignorance showing?)

You may not care for Duchamp but pop art, op art, conceptual art among other modern genres owe a lot to that particular artist. Cubism was explored by Jasper Johns among other famous painters from the 60's to the present time.

Abstract art has really not been that popular with the general public, Merry and the interest in using it for home decor doesn't necessarily mean they are going to buy original work. New York Graphic Society is also seeing a surge in sales of reproductions of abstract art by well known painters. Of course, in the commercial end you're also going to find a lot of mediocre decorator art in the limited edition reproductions of new work.

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Nice thread, LW. No ignorance revealed at all, Merry. Abstract art has always remained a healthy activity of artists. I don't know about the activity of galleries and museums. LW's opening statement usefully raises this issue for discussion..

There are no big names right now in abstract art post the Graffiti/Pop/Cartoon art genre. I'm just wondering if there can be any of the stature of the abstract expressionists of the 50's or is it all absorbed in Pluralism.

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LW, I suspect it is all "absorbed in pluralism." Now that history has run its course in art (consider all the The End of Art History works written lately). It seems that if that is true, pluralism and a wide-open invitation to eclecticism is the new reality. That's a positive in my judgement. I see no reason not to incorporate lessons from all schools and styles of the past in one's work. They are all there to benefit from, not just to transcend, as when there was a "history" to fulfill. The past is not past; maybe it's just a garden to pick from.

I am following the trend in the commercial end of the business -- I was really considering opening a gallery of strictly abstract art in Laguna Beach in the next few years.

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Is that still your plan? If so, would you restrict yourself to non-objective works or combine them with abstract works that have figurative insinuations or suggestions. We once had a thread, did we not, on the varieties of "abstract" art?

Hey, Mr. Wizard,

I have an abstract that I did once long ago. It's called "Carol's Tea Room"--No Carol, no tea, and no room.

Seriously, California is such a hip state (I'm told). You'd probably make a great success of your venture

don't you like nude descening a staircase? i love it and woman walking a dog.

I don't like Duchamp though - the Damien Hurst of his era.

Did abstract art ever go away? it is still alive and well here - representatinal through to abstract and every shade in between - it is a good era for variety of subject and treatment.

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Vivien, I could have written your last post. I agree with every word of it.

I once posted a discussion on Abuzz, "Duchamp - Revolutionary Artist or Crackpot." I think he was a little of both.

The conceptual art seems to have dominated the museum scene. Perhaps I'm think that if abstracts become commercially viable, maybe the museums and high art galleries will begin cultivating more abstractionists. It would be a response like abstract painting was a response to representational art of the period through the impressionist. Conceptual art still is shackled down with representing something and then it is placed out of context into a gallery or museum setting. Duchamp and others had already explored that for me ad infinitum (or nauseum, whichever grabs you). Is abstract art also out of ideas? Is it simply a theme and variation of the shapes, colors and compositions of the past? If one paints and abstract and it looks suspiciously like a Motherwell, what to do?

I found this site: http://www.abstract-art.com/a00_index_folder/a10_artist_list.html, but to me, most of the work has a kitschy quality. Abstract art broke rules, but where do you go from there? Maybe that's why it all seems like nothing new, and why there are not many well-known abstract artists these days? Just thoughts...

Oops, that link doesn't work. http://www.abstract-art.com/index.shtml

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LW, if a work looks like a Motherwell? So what if it also has its own character as well? I think I can tell the difference between a work that has been inspired by Motherwell and one that is a mere copy (with variations) of a motherwell. One does not have to TRY to be original. If one is "sincere" in one's work it will have all the virtues of "originality."

No, you can't be entirely original but I would suggest that an abstract painter just not even look at older work at all. I never consciously copied any De Kooning when I was painting large abstracts during my college days but the colors and forms resembled his art. Actually I used a lot of round forms and bridging strokes which could be seen as Motherwell-like. But I painted in heavy impasto with painting knives and mixed a lot of the paint right on the canvas, sometimes coming up with some detailed, textural surfaces that were more like Pollock.

The site, cav, is really very commercial decorative abstract art -- what I was talking about becoming popular with a more general consumer. Whether it will help or hinder some new great abstract painting, who knows.

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Your advice, LW, that an abstract painter not look at other abstract works might be technically sound, but who can deprive himself of not enjoying other works?

I just find that's a sure way to implant motifs that are used in abstractions clearly on one's mind. I'm not saying that should never see the work of others, I'm just saying to avoid it at times when they are actively painting. Of course, we know there are artists who likely pin up a repro of an image by a well-known abstract painter to consciously use it. I suspect the more commercially produced abstracts are of that sort.

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Those painters are surely selling themselves out, in the pursuit of commercial success. Authenticity is their sacrifice.