Finding Meaning in The Abstract
It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words. And I wouldn’t say that this is wrong, not necessarily, but I have to disagree with a certain aspect of it. On one side, words can have incredibly deep meaning. There is always some novel out there, some song lyrics, a piece of poetry, that feels like it was written just for you. But words can only go so far when it comes to communicating emotions, which is why I think that they can’t be used to describe the depth of a picture or piece of art. Art isn’t worth a thousand words, it’s worth something so much deeper, something that language can only scrape the surface of.
All art, in one way or another, requires some extent of interpretation, but looking specifically at abstract art, the meaning can be even harder to decipher. Art is primarily a form of communication. It means whatever the artist intends it to mean, and this meaning is shaped by the materials and techniques it makes use of, as well as the ideas and feelings it creates in its viewers. But communication is a two way street, and the viewer’s interpretation of a piece is just as important as the artist’s intentions. Although abstract art has been around for over a century, and can be traced back to even earlier movements such as Impressionism or Cubism, it is especially prominent in the modern world (Invaluable). In the past, art used to be a lot more about accurate representation, a portrait or depiction of a landscape, capturing the essence of a scene. But coming closer to the world we live in today, art has become more and more conceptual rather than realistic. This can be frustrating to some people, since a lot of this type of artwork, despite seeming unsophisticated and simple, is sold for hundreds of thousands of dollars. But it’s important to realize that though abstract artwork may seem hard to understand and can be cryptic, there is often a deeper meaning or intention behind it than what meets the eye at first glance.
This is definitely the case with one very famous piece I’m sure you’ve heard of at some point or another. Back in 2019, the banana taped to a wall, created by Maurizio Cattelan and sold for $120,000, was probably the most talked-about contemporary art piece of the time (Artnet). It brought into question the whole meaning and purpose of art with its complete absurdity. But though it may seem completely random and almost even irrelevant to art itself, looked at from the lens of an art critic, it can hold very deep hidden meanings and themes. Cattelan said that he had bought the banana in his piece for about $0.30, and keeping this in mind, we realize that he’s trying to make us question the value that is placed on material goods, and how superficial that value is (The Guardian). Another theme this piece explores is simply humor, which is expressed through numerous elements: Its name, the Comedian, is by far the most obvious indicator. Bananas are very often used for comedic purposes, which adds to the idea, and the artwork itself laughed in the face of what art was supposed to be, driving the theme home completely.
A piece of art that is very similar to the Comedian in its nature is the “Fountain”, also meant as satirical social commentary. Created by Marcel Duchamp, it is actually a standard porcelain urinal. It’s a so-called ‘readymade’ sculpture, meaning that it is an ordinary object that the artist has simply selected and perhaps modified in some way to turn it into artwork, which was also the case with the banana. Duchamp made a very deliberate choice to use a urinal, an object which would unsettle the viewer with its un-art-like associations, and unsettle the customary assumptions about what a work of art should look like. Duchamp makes a very bold statement through this piece: If the artist says something is art, then who is to say whether or not it qualifies?
Monochrome artwork has also become very popular with the rise of abstract art. Colors can have more emotional and mental effects on us than we realize, each one bringing up specific feelings. It’s the purest form of visual representation, how we see everything in the world around us. One example of this sort of artwork is Yves Klein’s Blue Monochrome, made in 1961 (Moma). This piece, to some viewers, might look just plain blue, and logically speaking, this is true. But immersing yourself in the color can surface much more meaningful themes behind this simple color. For example, this cold, intense color could feel like a deep, serene ocean, or the sky late in the evening. Klein saw monochrome painting as an “open window to freedom, as the possibility of being immersed in the immeasurable existence of color.” (Curated Crowd). This sort of art is beautiful in its ability to create emotions and feelings so simply, purely through color.
Another incredibly controversial art piece that used this same monochromatic style was Lucio Fontana’s slashes in canvas. To use his words, “I do not want to make a painting; I want to open up space, create a new dimension, tie in the cosmos, as it endlessly expands beyond the confining plane of the picture.” (Artland). His art pieces may seem simple at first glance, as though anyone could potentially create something incredibly similar, but the intentions behind the piece make it exponentially more sophisticated. There are a couple of different elements at play here that make this piece exceptional. First, the idea of “creating a new dimension” that Fontana describes plays an incredibly important role in his artwork. In most cases, a canvas is used as a surface onto which artwork is added; However, in Fontana's case, the canvas itself is the artwork, a creative concept that plays with how art is normally created. Another element of his piece is the bold color he uses on the canvas. This vivid shade of blood-red commands attention and feels almost invasive with its intensity. And yet, this same color that feels like it should be aggressive is spread across the canvas so perfectly and looks so pristine that barely any texture is discernible, only adding more weight to the cuts themselves. These are done with surgical precision, especially the three at the center, which are almost completely parallel to one another. This contrast between anger and perfection in this piece gives it a very specific touch that elicits feeling and emotion in the viewer.
The language or art is boundless and can convey emotions, ideas, and beliefs in a universally understood form, even to the illiterate. But sometimes that meaning is hard to find, especially in the modern world, and sometimes, the meaning is just art for art’s sake. And, to quote the contemporary artist John Baldessari, “conceptual art isn’t about art that has a concept, but about interrogating the concept of art,” (Artsy). But no matter how absurd, how obsolete, how completely ridiculous a piece of art seems to be, there is always something below that facade that carries a deeper meaning, one that anyone who looks closely enough can understand.
