Foreword

The dialectic between abstraction and figuration has always existed in art history. To create, artists “abstract” away, keeping only the essential features — those that best express the content at hand, serving the artwork as a whole. One only has to visualise a sculptor chipping away at a marble block to grasp that we have to negate part of what is given to us to represent anything. Similarly, in the great portraits of Velázquez, the painter would simply strip away all unessential visual information to be as synthetic as possible. Yet the essence of his subjects was captured with utmost precision: through the veil of abstraction, they are staring back at us. 

However, abstraction did reach unprecedented heights in modern art. The latter brought forth the greatest deconstruction of form ever seen and, with it, radical freedom. A whole new repertoire of techniques and gestures was offered to us, and the essence of art was once and for all revealed to lie well beyond naturalistic endeavours. This led some to believe the history of “figurative” aesthetics was over. Many artists fled representation itself, completely evacuating the complexity of form — and thus content — from their work. Some thought complete abstraction could better express a form of absolute. Others negated the picture-plane itself, subconsciously expressing their nihilistic beliefs. A few doubled down on hyper-realism. In many instances, it was based upon a misconception: thinking that figuration and abstraction are not the same. Truth be told, content can only be expressed through form and every act of representation is abstract by nature. 

The temporary negation of representation was a necessary step forward to reveal presence within absence and vice versa. But if were are to continue elevating the art, we need to finally learn from the ideas of Kant and Hegel: all aesthetic revelation plays on the leap between the internal concept of what is represented and the mystery of its outward appearance. Accordance between these two poles — between finite elements and the infinite relation that holds them together — determines beauty. When making a powerful image, form and content no longer stand apart. Each only comes into being by becoming the other; both exist solely by dissolving into a unity that can no longer be named, only seen and felt. Emotion is discovered through shape, and shape through emotion. Subjectivity and objectivity are reunited in the artwork.

The avant-gardes did not kill painting: they made it self-aware. Perhaps not much else needs to be said: images speak for themselves.