On Abstraction

When I was young, I remember a specific trip to the MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) in NYC, where I asked my mom in front of a giant abstract Jackson Pollock painting – WHY?  The whole thing was so striking.  Golds and blacks strewn everywhere, in a rhythm that somehow made sense, in spite of its chaos.  I remember the gold, and its incomprehensible “message” stuck with me.  I got no answers that day, but for years I kept the question tucked in a mental corner.  Having studied modern art in college, I felt exposed to some possibilities but still no answer.  When I pursued my own artistic career, I finally began to move closer.  It started to make sense.

Abstraction means something different to everyone, because that’s how it should be.  It’s a cloak of disguise for a message that sometimes the artist doesn’t even know they’re giving.  But they’re compelled. 

To create a work of art is to “abstract" something, in the first place – as true “photographic replication” is impossible – even photographs have their viewpoints and biases.  We’re constantly interpreting reality.  Our hands put their stamp on things.  But a funny thing happens as art becomes less and less representational – it leaves room to be understood.  By a viewer who might need some sort of message that day.  The gaps in the meaning of a work are exactly what is needed for the work to “work.”  I don’t believe that the purpose of art is literally to throw meaning at people.  To me, it’s rather like a crystal clear lake on a sunny day, or a cloudy day.  In it, you find your own reflection.  When an artist speaks their truth, someone else’s truth shines back.

My work has taken an abstract turn lately and I can’t say I mind.  I find that in colors there are emotions, and in brushstrokes there are bents, moods.  I know how the story felt as I created it, but the art seems to transcend all that in some way – to hold the potential for a “greater sum of its parts”.  It’s a great mystery but I’m glad that it speaks to people at times, in ways they seem to like. I know I’ve loved the works of so many artists before me.  For more abstractions, follow me on Instagram - J._Heloise - as I share it haphazardly;)  Here are some recent ones: