Gallery
March/ April 2022
Suma Z Elan
Abstract as Essence
Abstract art speaks to the essence of life and the human psyche.
Like an aerial view of the land or an extreme close up of a flower, universal
patterns and rhythms of the cosmos are apparent. There is a pattern here,
it’s a little familiar, but how do we make sense of it? What does it mean?
Maybe it will remain a mystery, like our essence.
Abstraction relies on repetition, rhythm, inter-related parts, often expressed
through mood and emotion. It takes intuition to both create abstract art and
to appreciate it.
When I paint in abstract, I start with my unconscious and then respond to what
I discover in the first marks or brushstrokes. It becomes a conversation between
parts of myself. I often listen to jazz while painting this way: like jazz, abstract
work involves improvisation and flow, mistakes and surprises.
Inarticulate, intangible, what do these pieces relay to you? Playful, moody,
an abstract is a Rorschach for projection, a haiku to contemplate.
Sumá Z. Elan