Let’s face it. We have often never understood what abstract paintings have stood for; thought of it as just art for art’s sake. Mr. Raviraj, founder of Lalit Kalakshetra demonstrated abstract art to his students and to other artists across Coimbatore in Coimbatore Art Foundation’s one day workshop, turning this notion upside down.

The workshop on Abstract Art Theory started at the Institute for Art and Culture in RS Puram, where Director Raviraj mused about the vividness of the imaginary art called abstraction. He begins by explaining what the name indicates. He explained that while terms like ‘abstract’, ‘non-figurative’, ‘non-representational’ might be similar, they are not identical in meaning.

Explaining the subjective motivation behind this art form, he also said, “Abstract art is all about emotions. But, not every painting becomes abstract art because it has a certain procedure.”

Raising the bar on the art form, he further elaborates that abstract art uses a visual language of shape, form, color and line to design a composition that could independently move away from the visual references of this world.

He also added that while this departure from the accurate representation could be slight, partial or complete, keeping it simple is the key. One can achieve that by dividing the art in a curvilinear, color related, geometric, emotional, gestural and minimalistic fashion.