I hear people refer to work as abstract all the time. Sometimes it’s simply a lack of understanding and sometimes it’s a derogatory term suggesting that any work that doesn’t imitate nature in all its detail, is not art.
There are any number of terms in art that cause confusion not least of which are those that try to divide art, artists and time into clearly defined movements as you so often find in art text books.
I recently read a piece of critical writing about an exhibition where the writer described the work as ‘close to illustration’. The artist had every right to be perplexed. It seemed that there was a divide between ‘real’ art and a lesser form known as illustration. In...
Recently an artist on FB asked if making a study/copy of an artist’s work was a breach of copyright and someone else added that you would end up in jail if you did.
I have lost count of how many times I have gone to an exhibition and been presented at the door with a book-length explanation of the work on the walls or the floor.
I recently spoke to a young artist, barely out of art school, who believed that her work could alter or shape people’s thinking about animals and the environment.