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Can Abstract Painters and Realist Painters Be Friends?

      All representational painting involves a degree of abstraction. There is a continuum of abstraction from non-objective abstraction to the geometry based proportions of a Renaissance portrait. Regardless of style, most painting occurs somewhere on that continuum.

      Representational art and abstract art are stylistic opposites but because they deal with the same elements and principles of design they are not antithetical. So why is there so much acrimony between abstract and realist painters? Devotees of modernism blow off traditional realism as irrelevant (beauty is too sincere.) Realist painters often demonize modernism, (it is difficult, and discordant.) The way I see it, both styles use the same visual language, one minimal, the other more descriptive. The elements and principles of design don't take sides. Style should not be dogmatic.
      The most highly realistic painting is an abstraction: perfect representation is not possible. Techniques of illusion are two dimensional abstractions of the way things appear in three dimensional space. I think of my own paintings as classical realism created with a modern point of view. I enjoy complexity, delving into detail: creating the illusion - that's the Classical part. I am in love with the romance of technique, but I also enjoy working with geometric form. The minimalism of working with pure geometry, extreme scale, and color abstraction is the Modern part.

  I am going to be totally honest here; I am first and foremost a painter. For me Art is an excuse to paint. I love sharing ideas and discussing my work with other painters. As it turns out, most of my artist friends are abstract painters. They are serious artists and it is all about painting. We have different styles; different content but we speak the same language-visual.

 In June I will be in a group show at the La Jolla Library with my friends True Ryndes and Robert Treat, both are abstract painters. Next month I will have details for the show and reception, and I have invited True to be my guest blogger and share his thoughts on abstract painting.