How Realistic Should Your Art Be?

In this post, I divide visual art into two parts. The division is a bit extreme, but it helps us to ponder about this: How realistic should my art be?

Realistic or Abstract?

Realistic expression emphasizes drawing, while abstract work more often emphasizes painting.

When we draw realistically, we express things through the external world.

Drawing flowers with black ink. Illustrating flowers.

When we paint abstract, we use shapes and colors more freely so the tools for expression come from the inner world.

Painting abstract art in watercolor. Aiming to become an abstract artist.

Realistic art can still express the inner world and abstract art the outer world – it is more about the means than the actual content.

It’s good to alternate between the realistic and the abstract approaches, even if one of them would feel more natural. Here’s why:

Two Extremes – Same Result

First, imagine a person who only draws representational pictures.

The danger is that the longer she continues on this path, the narrower her perception of reality becomes. All the leaves are green, the roads are brown, and the flowers are red and yellow. Everything is outlined with a pen, and the outlined shapes are then colored. When she creates freely without references, her shapes become more and more similar to each other. There is only one kind of leaves and the flowers are always drawn in the same way. When she repeats the same thing long enough, the expression gets narrower and narrower.

The person wonders why drawing no longer brings excitement and joy, even though she actually draws exactly what feels most natural to her.

Second, imagine a person who only paints abstract.

The danger is that the longer she continues on this path, the narrower her perception of reality becomes. The person begins to repeat a very limited number of shapes and colors without realizing it. All the spots are vague and quite the same size. The person begins to wonder if her output is something really fine and profound or just a random mess. Her motoric skills and the use of colors fall short because she does not really have a reference point: after all, she is only painting the stream of consciousness.

The person wonders why painting no longer brings excitement and joy, even though she actually paints exactly what feels most natural to her.

Creative Block

They say that there are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.

The two imaginary people have the same problem: their art no longer have miracles. They have stayed in their current comfort zone for too long.

How to Move Forward?

In this photo, you can see both abstract and representational elements; there’s very little division.

Flower in the pond, a photo that combines abstract and realistic.

Ask, what is truly real?

How do light and shadows express the object?
How abstract is the nature of light? Look for motifs and patterns created by light.
How light, on the one hand, blurs the boundaries of objects and, on the other hand, highlights details?
How multi-colored nature is? Even a piece of grass contains a huge number of tones.
Develop your eye and hand to embrace subtle diversity! Simple leaves or circles don’t express it.

Wassily Kandinsky has said:

“The observer must learn to look at the picture as a graphic representation of a mood and not as a representation of objects. “

Learning New Things Keeps the Artist in You Alive

It’s good that, from time to time art-making involves discomfort, questioning, and wondering about reality from strange perspectives. And when art starts to take you away from yourself, that’s not a bad thing either. Once you open up to what feels silly, scary, and not allowed, you’ll find that you’re closer to yourself and to humanity than ever before.