I am a painter and my work is of a very abstract nature. It is beautiful (most agree on this part) meaningful (not all understand this) and very simple (this is intentional and even though simplicity has it's own complications -trust me it's hard to remove form, shape and colour and still portray an idea- many people seem to have a problem with this, have you ever said or thought "A three year old could do that" when viewing an artwork?)

Why is it that people generally have a problem with the idea of the visual abstract when so many other things in life are abstract ideas? Take music for example, Music is totally abstract but for some reason people let themselves be affected by it in some way or other. This fact is not determined by whether one understands the music, we just allow ourselves to have a reaction, not shy away or throw thoughtless insults because we don't get it.

Please people, Open your eyes. Take the time to learn to understand how something visual affects you even when you don't understand it. It's such a pity to have this wonderful sense and not take advantage of it.

I am lucky in the fact that my work is generally aesthetically pleasing, this however should not be the only consideration. There are other things at play, and if we take the time to look beyond whether we "like" or "dislike" a piece we may learn something. There is generally more to a piece of artwork than whether it will suit with the carpet if we buy it.

Artwork is more than decoration, take the time to look. Artwork has sadly fallen in the visual culture of society ( far behind cinema and television) and seems to only be viewed and considered when decorating.

I could paint your portrait if I wanted to, I choose not to. Please don't undermine an artists skill because you don't understand what's infront of you. I'm not saying that you should understand it, just let it affect you in some way, more than just the decision of "I like this" or "I don't".

Lada