Abstract Art Evolutionary Theory
It is hard to imagine there was a time before language. Abstraction was the first step in the collective evolution, starting with the breakthrough that abstract language, which is the naming of things, brought to man. Abstraction has a deep common meaning and its nuances not always felt. One of the curious aspects of abstraction is that it is pointed toward the future, not the past. Abstraction is not focused on an object, a theme or a topic necessarily; it is purely interested in experience. Abstract logic is more receptive or open, therefore less focused on one specific idea; but it does not mean it isn’t logical, hence the seeming contradiction.
We forget that even language can tell of the past or talk about the future. Language describes reality but isn’t reality per say, it is description, hence all art can be viewed as abstract from that common perspective as art is never the real thing either. When I say to you “I took a walk in the park this morning”, it is an essay in abstraction; not only am I not describing the actual event (only an interpretation) but I am not even describing the actual time–that, to me, is abstraction in its infant stage.
My view is that reality loses a generation the moment it is expressed in words, though it can gain in creative interpretation and poetry. The ability to share something that happened elsewhere and then to organize it in a coherent manner by abstracting it so others can understand it, is quite something to ponder. In the evolutionary process before abstraction, the only way to share an experience was to have it together as it was happening. If it happened elsewhere, you had to run back to the village and tell everyone to come with you or the possibility of sharing was nullified and simply not possible.
Conceptualization is absolutely abstract as the things we describe in the moment may have happened elsewhere and at a different time. Within abstraction and the development of abstract communication, which is purely and solely experiential, man was suddenly able to infer and build complex systems to feed and protect himself as well as develop history through story telling. Mind, in a gigantic humorous way, is the by-product of abstraction.
An interesting observation as to why I think people have a difficult time with abstract art is that in our conditioned selves, we have forgotten that everything in our lives is abstracted. Therefore, we are attached to an illusion of things being real. As an example, the food you buy at the market would not be understood as food by prehistoric man. He would have lacked the abstraction that the piece of meat he sees packaged and ready to cook came from somewhere else and was killed somewhere else. It is an enormous thing to grasp in our understanding of abstract art. My experiences as an artist on a purely inner level can be shared.
All abstractions need to be logically organized so they can be appreciated not necessarily understood as it is not important for the survival of the species. Society is only interested in mass homogenization, it does not want to be bothered with originality and especially with artists; unless they are either dead and part of the collective heritage. All artists are a threat to society and the real reason is because all artists carry the potential for change, evolution and therefore the momentary breakdown of established values. Originality is very difficult for society because it threatens old ways to become new ways and it’s very unbalancing for the collective consciousness that is still immersed in shelter, defensiveness, survival issues, and a myriad of agenda driven platforms. The collective consciousness has not evolved much; it is still rooted in fears of tomorrow. I observe this dayly.
It’s all story telling when it comes to abstraction because abstraction can only retell experiences that happened somewhere else and in my case are deeply personal. Art developed from utilitarian to decorative and from collective or tribal to individual.
I feel that we have arrived at the age and architecture of the individual where self-organization, not selfishness, is not only possible but essential. Selfishness only has a bad name in relationship to serving the collective—what we call society. My art serves the individual and for that individual to appreciate it he/she needs to elevate themselves from the tribal values to the individual values. Conditioned man is not free from the ravages of the mind as a decision maker.
Philippe Benichou © 2003 – 2014 Topanga, CA
