[ THINK ]

Art sometimes implants in people unorthodox ideas;

it breaks the molds of provincialism in which people have been brought up;

it disturbs and disquiets, since it tends to emphasize individuality rather than conformity;

and works of art are often created out of rebellion or disenchantment with the established order. 

[ FEEL ] & [ SEE ]

When art does not affect people morally one way or the other, we refer to it as nonrepresentational art, one that does not express an opinion. Its purpose is for the pleasure of viewing.

Nonrepresentational art is another way to refer to abstract art, though there is a difference between the two. Fundamentally, nonrepresentational art is work that does not represent or depict a being, a place, or a thing in the natural world.

The words nonrepresentational art and abstract art are often used to refer to the same style of painting. However, when an artist (Kandinsky’s Blue Segment depicted above) works in abstraction, they are distorting the view of a known thing, person, or place.

Picasso often abstracted people, landscapes, objects and events.

Yet, no artwork has become as important a symbol of anti-war movements as this heartbreaking painting by Picasso.

The work depicts the overnight bombing of the Spanish city of Guernica in 1937, during the Spanish Civil War.

Picasso had been commissioned by the Spanish Republican government to create an artwork, and was so disgusted by the atrocity that he chose it as his subject.

The painting was made into a full size replica tapestry which hangs in the United Nations headquarters in Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía.

[ HEAR ]

Across all cultures and belief systems, art communicates to us whether we “understand” the work or not. 

Most often we project our beliefs and/or  our experiences onto what we think, feel, see or hear. 

In art, we more readily accept interpretive differences that we each experience, and actually are interested and educated by those differences.

How can we translate this acceptance of others’ perceptions to create dialogue and allow for an openness to others’ ideas? 

Unlike in art, in life, there are universal rights and wrongs.

Speak out for what you believe in.