Why abstract artists were rebels?

Rebels of a new generation

Up until things got “abstract,” artists had always created representational art, i.e. there were objects “represented” that you could see. It should be mentioned that for a few decades, such objects had been breaking up, as in Cubist art, or blurred to the point of lacking detail or boundaries, as in Impressionist art, however artworks still contained objects and a subject matter. With abstract art, artists no longer depicted objects, but only basic shapes and primary colors. Abstract artists were no longer interested in expressing emotions like the Impressionist artists did, or deliver a message, as the Futurists did. They were content to keep their art meaningless, or at least leave interpretation completely up to the viewer, without giving away clues.

Curiously, even within that so-called abstract art movement, the different sub-movements were reactions against one another. For example Abstract Expressionism, made famous by Jackson Pollock, was a step away from even strict shapes and forms. Pollock preferred to release his “passion” onto the canvas resulting in blobs and drips of paint. His focus was the performance of painting and his personal expression. On the other hand, De Stijl artists had no interest in “personal” expression. Their works showed mainly geometric shapes. Yet again, Minimalism as it arrived in the 1960s and 70s, rebelled against the very medium of the canvas, along with sculpture. Minimalist artists refused to restrict their art to a particular medium, hence they embraced new materials and three-dimensional forms.

That artistic rebellion liberated painters from having to adhere to any traditions established by their predecessors. While the old masters of art would spend several months working on a canvas, a modern abstract artist could finish an artwork in a day or just a few hours! Critics declared that they did not find any skills required for such artworks. They enjoyed performing experiments trying to prove that even apes could actually create abstract artworks. They even compared Pollock’s famous paintings to bird droppings! Viewers were just as harsh, spreading the old cliché that “my kid could have done that!” No wonder abstract art became one of the most hated art styles of all time. Many art movements stood out as marginal and edgy then eventually became accepted like Impressionism and Fauvism, however abstract art is no more accepted today than it was a century ago when it appeared. It continues to be among the most controversial and most polarizing art movements. It continues to pose the basic question of what is art?