We have established that your favourite paintings belong to abstract expressionism. Now let’s see what that actually is. Paul Klee once said: «The more horrible the world, the more abstract the art». Pure abstractionism presents the escape into the non-material world, the oblivion and the serenity.

An abstractionist artist claims to be a bundle of energy empowered to revel the true essence of things. The only way to convey their energy structure and the spiritual nature is to deprive them of the substantive characteristics and depict only the attributes – like the smile of the Cheshire cat without the actual cat. As distinguished from abstractionism, abstract expressionism aims at pouring out emotions, and it was deemed vulgar to reduce the powerful emotion into a single scene or a material object. Thus an artist rules out logics and reasoning and relies on his intuition. He is working promptly and authomatically. The process of pouring, dripping and smashing colours on the vast canvases, along with the rhythmic movements of an artist remind one of some shamanic dances – they originate in the subconscious mind and connect the artist with the cosmic energy. Therefore painting in the style of abstract expressionism is a performance, and it is as valuable as the paintings itself. Don’t bother looking for fine draughtsmanship, hidden images, symbols or logics. Abstract expressionism is to be felt and absorbed – it represents the emotions and energy of an artist, not a puzzle to solve.