Abstract art of the visual and moving kind - Straight Dope Message ...

This sort of art seems to leave most people cold: http://eartfair.com/blog/wp-content/.../mondriaan.gif

On the other hand, one of the my has convinced me that people fucking love lava lamps: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/...d.php?t=680195
As you can see, those who at least like lava lamps outnumber those who at most dislike them by nearly 8 to 1. I didn't expect that lopsided a result even with the risks associated with self-selecting polls. In any case, people are usually not shy to say when they dislike something, whether it's Windsor knots or eating pizza with utensils.

Fireworks also tend to be very much liked.

If you'll allow me to reuse an aside I made in that thread which is more apropros here:

Fireworks and lava lamps are two of the few common forms of non-representational dynamic visual stimulation.

Visual stimulation: It is based on what it looks like rather than sound, kinesthetics, mental concepts or imaginings. I hesitate to call them art but they're at least entertainment.

Non-representational: They are based on shapes and colors but does not actually depict anything. In this way, they're like abstract art.

Dynamic: Unlike most abstract visual art, they move.

I remember someone mentioning in an art thread about abstract art that classical music is usually non-representational yet a lot of people enjoy it. Even in non-classical music, the melody and accompaniment are usually non-representational and the lyrics are often chosen more for the way they sound than for their representational content. So most people have no problem with abstract audio art, it's usually abstract visual art that leaves them cold.

Then I thought that seeing visual art that doesn't move is a lot like listening to audio art that doesn't change chords or that keeps playing the same few notes.

I watched this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kCvUAcbriY and thought that even if all the representational video content were replaced with non-representational video content and the audio were taken out, it would still be stimulating.

Could abstract visual art be more potentially popular than is commonly thought? Could the reason it's not that actually popular is because most abstract visual artists limit themselves to static rather than dynamic art? If Mondrian were alive today and made the same kind of art, undertaking the same artistic project but by using animation/computer graphics, would it be more widely appreciated?

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Last edited by MichaelEmouse; Yesterday at 05:04 PM.

Source: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=680543

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