Art and Abstraction: Olafur Eliasson

Definition of Abstraction in Art:

"A work of art, esp. a nonrepresentational one, stressing formal relationships."

Dictionary.com Unabridged

Based on the Random House Dictionary,

© Random House, Inc. 2010.

An art work by Olafur Eliasson from an exhibition, currently featuring at the MCA.

It is titled:

"Take your Time: A Conversation"
Olafur Eliasson, ‘One-way colour tunnel’ (2007).

Stainless steel, color-effect acrylic, and acrylic mirrors;

100 3/4 x 70 7/8 x 413 3/8 in.; Courtesy the artist;

Tanya Bonakdar Gallery, New York;

and neugerriemschneider, Berlin;

© 2007 Olafur Eliasson

The installation, 'one-way colour tunnel', Being non-representational falls into the category of abstract art.

I went to the exhibition and came to the conclusion that a lot Eliasson's work is about the experience of seeing colour and being immersed in it. The artist uses the idea that every person's eye processes light and colour in a slightly different way, meaning that no two people can ever really see the same artwork.

With abstract art, it is more often than not about the viewing of the work, the reaction one has to it.

Abstract art is art in it's most subjective form.

For example if an artist creates an abstract form with a particular animal in mind, let's say, a dog. It does not look like a dog, but to the artist it will feel like a dog, it will have "the essence" of a dog. An audience member may then look upon the created form and feel it has the presence of an axolotl. And another may feel it is a cake or even the embodiment of a non-tangiable thought.

It is the experience of and reaction to abstract art which makes it significant.