Abstract art has been a popular and well-accepted art form for centuries and many artists including painters, sculptors, architects and the like have become very famous for the work they have produced in their specialized field, but there have also been many world class photographers through the years, who have also taken up the challenge and made their mark with those famous people in that chosen category.
Unfortunately, abstract art, including abstract photography, is not accepted terribly well by those who do not understand its qualities. Some will find it very difficult to comprehend, to a point where they deem it an absolute and utter waste of time, to even allow it the briefest of glances at galleries.
I really do pity these poor misguided and uninitiated individuals, for they know not what they see!
A definition of the word abstract would probably go something like, "That which possesses no real meaning or reference to any specific thing".
Therefore, an abstract painting, sculpture, or indeed, photograph, doesn't have to have a given title as such. You are viewing it for its abstractness, not for what it should represent and because abstract art doesn't sometimes allow you to decipher its meaning, you are expected, however, to appreciate all of the qualities of shape, light, colour, pattern and texture the author has utilized to produce the resulting image, because these are the qualities that really make abstract art tick!
Abstracts can help you overcome familiarity and allow you to see things in an entirely different context. To accept this, you need to re-tune your senses so you become more receptive and responsive to all that is in the world around you.
To appreciate this, you really need to look into and beyond what you are looking at. As Henry David Thoreau said, "It is not a case of what you look at, but more of what you see". It is both very meaningful and significant.
Look at the shapes and form of things around you. Take a common cup, for instance, the one you use every day. Forget if you will that it is a cup, it is a mere object. Examine it slowly and thoroughly. See it just for what it is. Examine its shape, its colour and form. Does it have a high glaze? What other shapes and forms can you see on its shiny surface?
Do this with as many other different objects as you can. You'll not only find it very relaxing but after a while, you will begin to learn and appreciate the apparent inner beauty of certain objects and you will then understand why some people actually go to the trouble to paint and make photographs of abstract things. It is because they can see that hidden, beauty that others would probably never take the time, nor have the inclination to discover.
