a.

) Representation and Non-repsentation

Representation Art Vs. Non-

representational Art
Art has been seen as a form of expression and communication of emotion since roughly 40,000 years
ago. Britannica Online defines art as "the use of skill and imagination in the creation of aesthetic objects,
environments, or experiences that can be shared with others." It can refer to painting, film, photography
and sculpture. There are two types of art - representational art and non-representational art. Each of them
has thoroughly different styles of artwork and can be easily distinguished.

Representational Art is the type of art that we see the most. It is the use of signs that stand in for and take
the place of something else. Representational means descriptive, figurative and symbolized. Briefly, it
depicts something easily recognized by most people. For example, the painting below is called Thunder
Magic by Marcia Baldwin. People can generally recognize it as a horse without doubt. Although the using
of colour may not be realistic, it represents an actual subject from reality.

Non-representational Art is also called Abstract Art. The aim is to take subjects from reality but present
them in way that is different from the way they are viewed in our reality. Sometimes it does not even
represent or depict a being, a place or a thing in a natural world. The artistic content depends on internal
form rather than pictorial representation. For example, the painting below is The Persistence Of Memory
by a famous artist, Salvador Dali. The most eye-catching things in the painting are the three soft melting
pocket watches. According to some studies, the soft watches may be a visual depiction of the idea behind
the Einstein's theory of relativity. The figure in the middle of the picture has one closed eye with several
eyelashes, it is possibly suggesting the irrelevance of time during sleep. However, the perception of this
picture may have somewhat difference between people.
In short, representational art can describe a physical object clearly and the expression of artists can be
easily got by people. Non-representational art is abstract that the artists view the subjects in a non-
traditional manner.The meaning behind the picture is not obvious and may not be perceived by all
people consistently. Nevertheless, the sake of both types of art is the same - express the thoughts or
emotion of artists.

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The word "representational," when used to describe a work of art, means that the
work depicts something easily recognized by most people. Throughout our
history as art-creating humans, most art has been representational. Even when
art was symbolic, or non-figurative, it was usually representative of something.
Abstract (non-representational) art is a relatively recent invention and didn't
evolve until the early 20th-century.

What Makes Art Representational?

There are three basic types of art: representational, abstract, and non-objective.
Representational is the oldest, best-known, and most popular of the three.

Abstract art typically starts with a subject that exists in the real world but then
presents those subjects in a new way. A well-known example of abstract art is
Picasso's Three Musicians. Anyone looking at the painting would understand that
its subjects are three individuals with musical instruments–but neither the
musicians nor their instruments are intended to replicate reality.

Non-objective art does not, in any way, replicate or represent reality. Instead, it
explores color, texture, and other visual elements without reference to natural or
constructed world. Jackson Pollock, whose work involved complex splatters of
paint, is a good example of a non-objective artist.

Representational art strives to depict reality. Because representational artists are

creative individuals, however, their work need not look precisely like the object
they are representing. For example, Impressionist artists such as Renoir and
Monet used patches of color to create visually compelling, representative
paintings of gardens, people, and locations.

History of Representational Art

Representational art got its start many millennia ago with Late Paleolithic
figurines and carvings. Venus of Willendorf, while not too terribly realistic, is
clearly meant to show the figure of a woman. She was created around 25,000
years ago and is an excellent example of the earliest representational art.

Ancient examples of representational art are often in the form of sculptures,

decorative friezes, bas-reliefs, and busts representing real people, idealized gods,
and scenes from nature. During the middle ages, European artists focused largely
on religious subjects.

During the Renaissance, major artists such as Michaelangelo and Leonardo Da

Vinci created extraordinarily realistic paintings and sculptures. Artists were also
commissioned to paint portraits of members of the nobility. Some artists created
workshops in which they trained apprentices in their own style of painting.

By the 19th century, representative artists were beginning to experiment with

new ways of expressing themselves visually. They were also exploring new
subjects: instead of focusing on portraits, landscapes, and religious subjects,
artists experiments with socially relevant topics related to the Industrial
Revolution.

Present Status
Representational art is thriving. Many people have a higher degree of comfort
with representational art than with abstract or non-objective art. Digital tools are
providing artists with a wider range of options for capturing and creating realistic
images.

Additionally, the workshop (or atelier) system continues to exist, and many of
these teach figurative painting exclusively. One example is the School of
Representational Art in Chicago, Illinois. There are also whole societies dedicated
to representational art. Here in the United States, the Traditional Fine Arts
Organization comes quickly to mind. A web search using the keywords of
"representational + art + (your geographical location)" should turn up venues
and/or artists in your area

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Nonrepresentational art is often used as another way to refer to abstract art, but
there is a distinct difference between the two. Fundamentally,
nonrepresentational art is work that does not represent or depict a being, place,
or thing.

If representational art is a picture of something, for instance,

nonrepresentational art is the complete opposite: Rather than directly portray
something recognizable, the artist will use form, shape, color, and line—essential
elements in visual art—to express emotion, feeling, or some other concept.

It's also called "complete abstraction" or nonfigurative art. Nonobjective art is

related and often viewed as a subcategory of nonrepresentational art.

Nonrepresentational Art Versus Abstraction

The terms "nonrepresentational art" and "abstract art" are often used to refer to
the same style of painting. However, when an artist works in abstraction, they are
distorting the view of a known thing, person, or place. For example, a landscape
can easily be abstracted, and Picasso often abstracted people and instruments.

Nonrepresentational art, on the other hand, does not begin with a "thing" or
subject from which a distinctive abstract view is formed. Instead, it is "nothing"
but what the artist intended it to be and what the viewer interprets it as. It could
be splashes of paint as we see in Jackson Pollock's work. It may also be the color-
blocked squares that are frequent in Mark Rothko's paintings.

The Meaning Is Subjective

The beauty of nonrepresentational work is that it is up to us to give it meaning
through our own interpretation. Sure, if you look at the title of some piece of art
you may get a glimpse into what the artist meant, but quite often that's just as
obscure as the painting itself.

It is quite the opposite of looking at a still life of a teapot and knowing that it is a
teapot. Similarly, an abstract artist may use a Cubist approach to break down the
geometry of the teapot, but you may still be able to see a teapot. If a
nonrepresentational artist, on the other hand, was thinking of a teapot while
painting a canvas, you'd never know it.

While this subjective point of view to nonrepresentational art offers freedom of

interpretation to the viewer, it is also what bothers some people about the style.
They want the art to be about something, so when they see seemingly random
lines or perfectly shaded geometric shapes, it challenges what they're used to.

Examples of Nonrepresentational Art

Dutch painter Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) is a perfect example of a
nonrepresentational artist, and most people look to his work when defining this
style. Mondrian labeled his work as "neoplasticism," and he was a leader in De
Stijl, a distinct Dutch complete abstraction movement.

Mondrian's work, such as "Tableau I" (1921), is flat; it is often a canvas filled with
rectangles painted in primary colors and separated by thick, amazingly straight
black lines. On the surface, it has no rhyme or reason, but it is captivating and
inspiring nonetheless. The appeal is in the structural perfection combined with
the asymmetrical balance, creating a juxtaposition of simple complexity.

Confusion With Nonrepresentational Art

Here's where the confusion with abstract and nonrepresentational art really
comes into play: Many artists in the Abstract Expressionist movement were
technically not painting abstracts. They were, in fact, painting
nonrepresentational art.

If you look through the work of Jackson Pollock (1912–1956), Mark Rothko
(1903–1970), and Frank Stella (b. 1936), you will see shapes, lines, and colors,
but no defined subjects. There are times in Pollock's work in which your eye grabs
onto something, though that's simply your interpretation. Stella has some works
that are indeed abstractions, yet most are nonrepresentational.

These abstract expressionist painters are often not depicting anything; they are
composing with no preconceived notions of the natural world. Compare their
work to Paul Klee (1879–1940) or Joan Miró (1893–1983) and you will see the
difference between abstraction and nonrepresentational art.

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