Part 4: Project 12: Abstract Collagraph

(Task 12)

The best (if not the only) way I can view, and try to understand non-representational art is to think of it as analogous to something else.

I attended half an online taster session in Art Therapy at the University of Hertfordshire a few months back. We were instructed to close our eyes and, with a pencil, try to locate the edge of a piece of A4 paper without going so far as to allow the point of the pencil to wander off the edge of the paper, and mark the surface of the table. Other people drew lines around where they perceived the edge of the paper to be, as though pacing a cell and surreptitiously checking for weak points . I attacked this imaginary boundary. When I was done, and opened my eyes, I saw an elongated, jagged edged shape on the landscape sheet of coloured paper. I interpreted this to mean that I was like some kind of rabid beast, hell-bent on escape from – exactly where?

The reason I recount this now is because I feel it illustrates my view of non-representational art. It’s like painting a tiger with your hands tied behind your back. (You can’t paint with your feet because you’re busy using them to run from the tiger!)

Flights of fancy aside, I do find abstract art interesting, if a little perplexing. So it is with some trepidation and with a spirit of adventure that I embark upon this latest project.