Art History

What am I missing about abstract art?

I am often turned off by it because I don't see it taking any real skill and I usually don't buy into the explaination of it or the hidden meaning behind it or the inspiration for it. I often feel that it's the artist who can come up with the best story to explain it that makes the most money or gets the most attention. Am I wrong? If so, What makes a great abstract painting?

Public Comments

1. Imaginaaaaaaaaaaation Is always good for liking abstract :)
2. You are not wrong. And in addition to a good story, the artist must have the right attitude. They must look and act like their art is worth every penny.
3. I think it's just something you either do or don't like. I like abstract art because the painter creates it with something in mind, but when you look at it, you can form your own story. I think it's sort of ambiguous in that way.
4. if you like art that looks like a realistic scene, why not just take a photo? abstract artists take objects from the real world (paint, canvas e.t.c) and create images of their imagined beliefs. i see abstract art as allowing a persons dreams and ideals to be expressed in a confined reality for everyone to see. the real value in abstract art is it's uniqueness. you are not just looking at or buying a piece of canvas that looks nice, you are buying a person's dreams. (in this way absract art doesn't stay on a canvas but is molded by your own interpretations and beliefs). abstract art is alive!
5. are you talking about art that looks less real than a photograph or do you mean art that is not a picture of anything? once people were able to take photographs to record reality, there was no need for artists to focus on the technique of realistic representation. when photographs were only in black and white, artists were experimenting with color and focusing less on realistic line and shape. van gogh and monet for example since then, some artists moved away from representing or copying things in the world to experimenting with the elements and principles of art. there are lots of things in nature that are like abstract art, think about how beautiful clouds can be, even when they don't look like something else. or a pattern of bare tree branches, a pile of pebbles, ripples on a sand dune. just like music can be beautiful without lyrics, art can be beautiful without subject matter