Gillian Mciver

ABSTRACTION

Robert Linsley, “Turning Away”

“Art exists entirely within the social realm, since even to see an object as art requires some social training, namely an understanding and acceptance of conventions, and abstraction has made this fact more evident by separating art from many of its social roles. But the entirely interior space of art has a hole that lets in the air—sometimes the cold wind—of the world outside.”

 

http://tripleampersand.org/turning-away/

A fascinating article about abstraction in the present; I am fascinated by the possibilities for abstraction in cinema (not ‘abstract cinema’ but the way abstraction can be used IN narrative film an a sensorial element)… Bernard Rose’s Boxing Day is a good one, also the abstraction created by bokeh in Locke, and the opening of Enter the Void … but it’s little used because I think film makers don’t understand it well enough. I wrote about abstraction in Art History for Filmmakers  but should probably develop it a bit more.

Unfortunately I was led to this superb article  by a FB post about Robert Linsley’s death. Although I never met him, I feel the loss, after reading this eloquent and thoughtful essay.

night-palette

[Night Palette – photograph ©2016 Gillian Mciver]

Published by Gillian Mciver

Hi I'm The Art traveller. I'm a filmmaker, writer and art historian. The Art Traveller is my blog, where I write about travelling the world and looking at art. I'm interested in how the environment and history of a place affect how we see art. My work includes documentary film-making, short films and artists' video, often exploring historical events or places. My interest in art history and film led me, in 2016 to write "Art History for Filmmakers" published by Bloomsbury Press, a book exploring how filmmakers can and do use paintings from the past to inspire and create visual story telling.