Writing
It has often been held that Painting is a narrative art, but this is just a conceit. Painting is only narrative if the viewer already knows the story, or if the story is being explained to the viewer, in words, at time of viewing. “Narrative Painting” can only illustrate something already known. Although painting has often been representational, her representations are not narratives. The experience represented in traditional painting is symbolic and/or allegorical experience, but painting is deeper than mere representation.
“Abstract art remains misunderstood by the majority of the viewing public. Most people, in fact, consider it meaningless.” These words are from Maurice Tuchman, one of the few commentators brave enough to state the obvious truth. There are many reasons for the failure of understanding which Tuchman describes, but I single out one. Our culture has assumed a form, call it “materialistic consumerism”, which is in fundamental conflict with the aims and revelations of Abstract painting. By way of explication, I am going to tell a story which is an outlandish affront to conventional art history.