Abstraction

Modernist assumptions
Spiritual implications
Stylistic differences

To arrive at meaningful descriptions we must move away from exactitude. Not only are all visual images abstractions, but in alliance the rigorous sciences also are fabricated upon inexact representations.

“The work of art, as an autonomous organism, stands beside nature on equal terms and, in its deepest and innermost essence, devoid of any connection with it, in so far as by nature is understood the visible surface of things.” – Wilhelm Worringer

Inscription information
Visible impression
Stain trace

Abstract and concrete are classifications that indicate whether an expression describes an object with a physical denotation or one with no physical referents. These translated asphalt markings dwell in a middle ground, helping to formulate generalized ideas.

“The familiar material objects may not be all that is real, but they are admirable examples.” – Willard Van Orman Quine

Formal invention
Reflective gesture
Significant content

In a tour of an industrial printing plant, random ink spillage is here visually organized into an abstract expression. Found ancillaries derive their art identity from the designation divulged by the artist.

“We favor the simple expression of the complex thought.” – Barnett Newman

Directed at
States of affairs
Immanent objectivity

Conscious human beings are not merely affected by environmental conditions, but are also conscious of things as things: physical objects and events, selves and other persons, and abstract thoughts and propositions. Establishing a relationship to existence, most of the events that comprise mental life have this distinguishing attribute of being “of” or “about” something.

“Intentionality is what characterizes consciousness in the pregnant sense and which, at the same time, justifies designating the whole stream of mental processes as the stream of consciousness and as the unity of one consciousness.” – Edmund Husserl