I sympathise, I really do. Yes, abstract art can look like your kid did it. Or like someone threw paint at the canvas (and maybe they did). It can be horrifying, or beautiful but you’re not sure why. And it just doesn’t look like anything real.

And – that’s the point.

So why do artists feel drawn to create abstract works? How can we make sense of it all? Do we even need to?

Let me say this up front. For me, good abstract art is not an easy way out for artists who can’t draw. Some abstract artists are highly accomplished in a variety of styles, including figurative work. I also love to draw and paint figuratively, yet I am drawn to abstract art so I can explore connections to objects, people, and place in ways that are not easily represented by figurative work. For example, what if I want to express something about the complexity of human connections, without actually being literal and painting people?

Abstraction encourages people (myself included) to think laterally about our place in the world. Abstract art engages us in different ways to figurative art; we have to stop, look hard, think, and ask questions of ourselves and the artist. And in the time that people spend engaging with the work, sometimes things can happen quite outside of their control, which bring forth memories, images, or interpretations that they didn’t know were there. That’s what’s interesting, I’m never sure what others will see or feel when they view my work!

Abstraction resonates with my way of thinking. My work represents ways of being in the world – sometimes it speaks about personal relationships, at other times it connects people to experiences or histories related to time and place, while other works represent how we feel about objects, a location, or the landscape.  These intangibles are not always easily expressed by painting figuratively.

Abstract artists can play with texture, colour, and composition in ways that might feel restrictive in other styles. When I am not painting literally, then ideas can float on the canvas; I don’t need a ‘landscape’ to ground them in. Feelings can emerge slowly or jump out at you; I don’t need a face to display expressions, on or a body to depict gestures. I can say “this is important’ by using thicker paint or bolder colours. I can express connection as flowing lines, overlapping shapes, or layers of washes. I can make things look like they just happened on the canvas, belying their complexity. As an abstract artist, I have full, immersive, expressive freedom. It’s mind-blowing.

So next time you look at abstract art and think “I just don’t get it” – that’s ok. Perhaps you can stop for a while and look a little harder. Look at the scale of the work, look at the texture and materials, look at colour, shape, the way things are arranged on the canvas.  Just stay with the work for a while, and in that space, you never know, something wonderful might happen.