You prefer abstractionism. Abstract painting, in other words non-figurative, is often repelled by viewers who tend to favour the traditional figurative paintings, with a clear subject and realistic representation. The matter is that they advance the abstract composition the same way they interpret the traditional canvases.

They appreciate the resemblance, the likeness, the manner of representing the reality. If whatever is portrayed does not look the same as it appears in real life, the verdict on the artist is to drop the brush and find a day job. Yet if we think about it, Shishkin’s forest as as beautiful as an elegant proof of a mathematical theorem, the difference of the two lies in the eyes of the beholder. The beauty of abstract paintings lies in the excitement of desiphering in pursuit of understanding. It is true for a painting the same as it true for a theorem – if you are unaware of formulae, axioms and laws, you will never appreciate the beauty. You need to read up on the fundamentals of abstractionism to see the beauty in Picasso’s women.

So, let’s start with a bit of theory. «The more horrible the world, the more abstract the art». Abstractionism developed and thrived in the period of military turmoil of the 40-50s of the 20th century. It was impossible to convey the emotional perception of the events of the time through a realist still life, a forest or a nude. More importantly, there were no chances to surpass the Dutch masters, Ivan Shishkin and Jean Ingres, all the peaks of masterful representation seemed to have been conquered.  And so, the artists escaped the reality and plunged into the philosophy of energetics. The cosmic energy bursts life out of mere chaos, and abstractionist thinking ventures to comprehend and portray this higher cosmic energy. Any person or thing is stable, they have a sustainable set of key characteristics, and thus they are uncapable of reveling the power and dynamics of the cosmic energy: they were born out of it and then solidified into a form, which presupposes inactivity. From the point of view of cosmic energy every material object is passive.

To reveal the spiritual quality of cosmic energy the abstractionists abandoned the principlies of realistic representation, the narrative and generally figurative art. They depicted qualities of objects WITHOUT the objects, as you can enjoy the smile of a Cheshire cat existing apart from the cat. They ventured to depict the essence of the world without resorting to realistic portrayal of the things and people who inhabit it. With the help of basic forms, lines and colour abstractionists created compositions of monumental energy, the intensity that empowers and astounds the viewer.

The lines, colours and forms and various combinations thereof make up the language of abstractionism, declared and studied in thoroughly compiled written works explaining the theoretical background of this movement. The circle, for instance, symbolizes the infinity, the eternity; the square stands for the mortal life, the triangle represents one’s thoughts and activity. Blue is the symbol of the spiritual energy and movement, yellow is the colour of madness, the frenzy, the fury; black is the colour of death and despair. Knowing the basics of the language of abstractionism you will totally see the difference between a red circle and a blue circle – and you will no longer try to look big or sarcastic in front of these paintings, once you know where to look for the meaning. So, to decipher an abstract composition you need to consider the combination of forms, colours, their arrangement, to consider the title and the subject you might grasp. After that go ahead and interpret the painting the way you feel right. Abstractionism is based on the fundamental idea of conveying the cosmic energy, so if you feel the energy going through your veins, if you feel agitated and enthusiastic, if you got a new idea or feeling watching the painting, then by default even an artist who painted it would not argue with your interpretation. By the way, you might have heard anecdotes about the paintings that were hanging upside down in museums for several weeks on end – well, the joke falls flat in front of a person who really loves abstractionist art. Moreover, this situation will be the greatest compliment to the artist. As we remember, abstractionist artist rejected the narrative, representation of actual things or people in order to set free from the limits imposed by space. Otherwise the form would be stable and inactive. As the manifestation of cosmic energy, a painting should stay harmonious and expressive regardless of its position in space. If the composition is out of balance or depends on the space orientation, it comes in conflict with the basic principles of abstractionism. So, it turns out that if a painting is hanging upside down and nobody has noticed it for weeks, it is not at all funny – it’s huge!