Abstract Paintings

Abstract etymologically (abs + tract) means "drawn away" so it is neither 'attract' nor 'distract'. Aesthetically beautiful things attract people and make them feel pleasant while ugly or grotesque things distract people and make them feel unpleasant. Then how about 'abstract'? Do abstract things 'abstract' (draw away) people ? Yes they do. Abstract things (like mathematics and abstract paintings) are often difficult to understand and grasp. Abstract things are going away when people try to catch them.

Paintings are visual media so no invisible paintings exist - like ' there exists no structure without a construction (Jean Piaget) ' or ' there exists no art critic without art. ' Visual things generally knock intuition, emotion, feeling, soul or spirit not reason no matter how they are abstract while mathematics, logic, philosophy generally strike reason. Paintings are appreciated usually intuitively not logically especially in Asia (China, Japan, etc) . This is especially true for real, figurative, non-abstract paintings. Abstract paintings differ as they are often difficult to understand or appreciate intuitively. They are often not so beautiful and attractive from a normal aesthetic point of view. They do not attract attention with beauty but they 'abstract' (are drawn away) . Still abstract paintings are not purely logical things as they are visual media. They are recognized visually through eyes.

Meanwhile explanations on paintings, whether abstract or non-abstract, are more intuitive in East (China, Japan, etc) than in West where explanations on paintings are more logical.


abstract

late 14c., from L. abstractus "drawn away," pp. of abstrahere, from ab(s)- "away" + trahere "draw" (see tract (1)). Meaning "withdrawn or separated from material objects or practical matters" is from 1550s; specifically in ref. to the fine arts, it dates from 1915; abstract expressionism from 1952. The general noun sense of "a smaller quantity containing the virtue or power of a greater" [Johnson] is recorded from 1560s; meaning "summary of a document" is from 1520s. The verb is first recorded 1540s. - Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper


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