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| Robert Motherwell |
Abstraction is, in many ways and senses, the final result. In abstract paintings, the starting point should always be the subject in it's natural form. If you are an abstract painter, you start with a detailed sketch of a landscape. You then select and reduce the details until finally you see abstraction: that one crooked tree at the bottom of the mountain, the dog and the tourists taking pictures of the trees (these can also be the only things you keep). Many people, however, belittle abstraction because it appears simple. You take a brush and paint and you do whatever. Abstraction. But it is the process of selection and reduction of details and formality which divides the abstract artist from a child with paint.
Similarly in life, we cherish beauty for which we know why it is beautiful. In this context beauty equals happiness. You get a promotion at work, this makes you happy. You are laughing about a funny joke with your friends, this makes you happy. But the moments you don't know why but still feel happiness are real life abstractions. You reduced the causes and yet were still able to recognize what was right in front of you.
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