Abstract Art

I am convinced that dreams never die. This is true for me, when i found myself a student, already over the hill, to one of Hawaii's beloved artist, Joe Dawson. I had retired when my second wind kicked in. and my old passion for art and photography resurfaced. Thanks to my sensitve husband who helped rekindle my little girl's dream. The first time Joe and i met was when he attended my first art exhibit held at the Elks Club in Honolulu, entitled "From Camera to Canvas". He and his wife Iris took a liking for one of my work called "My Mililani Garden" and bought it, which they now display in their Art Studio. Maybe it's an artist thing to feel bonded with other artists, but a friendship began and grew. Joe was a young 86 year old, attractive, charming and so full if wisdom. I knew there was much i could learn from him, and along with his other students, i was delighted to be in his class. I found him to be a patient and thorough teacher, who generously shared valuable skills and techniques to wannabe artists, like me. I learned a lot about art, but i loved that i met and came to know Joe, the artist. These days, i spend a lot of time studying the lives of great artists, from Rembrant, Picasso, Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Georgia O Keefe, Andy Warhol, Jackson Pollock ,Norman Rockwell and so many more. These Masters have served as my inspiration.

What is art? According to Wikipedia: "Art is the process or product of deliberately arranging elements in a way that appeals to the senses or emotions. Richard Wollheim distinguished three approaches: the Realist whereby aesthetic quality is an absolute value independent of any human view; the Objectivist, whereby it is also an absolute value, but is dependent on general human experience; and the Relativist position, whereby it is not an absolute value, but depends on, and varies with, the human experience of different humans.

Traditionally, the term art was used to refer to any skill or mastery. This conception changed during the Romantic period, when art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science".

Generally, art is made with the intention of stimulating thoughts and emotions.It has been defined as a vehicle for the expression or communication of emotions and ideas, a means for exploring and appreciating formal elements for their own sake, and as mimesis or representation.

Leo Tolstoy identified art as a use of indirect means to communicate from one person to another. Benetto and R.G Collingwood advanced the idealist view that art expresses emotions, and that the work of art therefore essentially exists in the mind of the creator.

Art can describe several things: a study of creative skill, a process of using the creative skill, a product of the creative skill, or the audience’s experience with the creative skill."

To describe my art, as a photo digital artist is simple. I enjoy capturing subjects of all kinds, from nature to humans, and the process of creation is perhaps like everyone else who wants to make an interpretation of certain images. I love colors, and i am passionate about love, joy and healing.

Art communicates and entertains. There is the Avante-Garde, or art for political change. One of the defining functions of early twentieth century art has been to use visual images to bring about political change. The art movements which had this goal - Dadaism, Surrealism, Russian Constructivism, and Abstract Expressionism, among others - are collectively referred to as the avante-garde arts.

There is art for healing, used by art therapists, psychotherapists and clinical psychologists as therapy. There is a growing awareness in the medical field, hospitals, and other health facilities that certain types of art can help patients in their healing process. Art can also carry social reasons or political provocation. Subversive or deconstructivist art may seek to question aspects of society without any specific political goal. In this case, the function of art may be simply to criticize some aspect of society.

Joe taught me about abstract art and said, "It's all about the soul" In some of our sessions, we had a few laughs, when my work 'revealed' what he thought i did not really care to reveal. I was intrigued, and very fascinated.

Abstract Expressionism is a style of painting in which the painter shows his personality through spontaneity. Most abstract expressionist art is not a painting of an object or image, but instead a study in color and brush stroke. There are two major types of abstract expressionism. One is Action Painting and the other is Color Field Painting. Action painting strives to show paint texture and the movement of the artists. Jackson Pollock is an example of an Action Painter. He dripped and poured his paint to create his work. A Color Field Painter is a painter who is concerned with just color and shape. Mark Rothko is one of the best examples of this kind of painter and shows this by his rectangles and the variety of color that he uses in his paintings. Other abstract expressionism painters are Willem de Kooning, Adophn Gottieb, and Jean Debuffet. Jackson Pollock is an example of an Action Painter. He dripped and poured his paint to create his work. A Color Field Painter is a painter who is concerned with just color and shape.

Mark Rothko is one of the best examples of this kind of painter and shows this by his rectangles and the variety of color that he uses in his paintings. Other abstract expressionism painters are Willem de Kooning, Adophn Gottieb, and Jean Debuffet.

Georges Braques pioneered the technique of faceting an image in order to capture the essence of an object. Picasso’s faceting would become a stylistic means that led to pure abstraction, a process which would be completed by Mondicias and the Russian artists.

This artform is quite ’therapeutic’ for me as an artist. I can and have spent hours, completely ’lost’ in a world that’s peaceful, joyful and filled with surprises and discovery. I really feel like a child, who freely, naively experiments, with crayons in her hands..