Thoughts on Realistic and Abstract Art

People express themselves creatively through art. Strokes of a paintbrush on a canvas. Graphite streaking across paper. Unconscious feelings and emotions can manifest themselves subliminally, unconsciously. Some works of art are interpreted differently from person to person.

But nonetheless, there is a certain degree of objectivity when it comes to the beauty of art. It's tough to make the argument that a three year old's preschool self-portrait is more aesthetically pleasing than the Sistine Chapel, for example.

And there's no dearth of capable artists in this world, either. There are artists who can draw or paint so realistically that they capture the essence of a scene or a moment, together with its full range of emotion. I recently listened to a podcast of Juliette Fogra, the illustrator of Dr. Peterson's second book. I found her illustrations impressive. Not brilliant or outlook-changing, but nevertheless enough for me to admire her work and her skillset. Hyperrealistic artists are so adept at this skill that their work is often indistinguishable from a photograph, without careful scrutiny.

And yet, there is still a place for art like Pablo Picasso's last self-portrait. I mean, heck, I think I could have drawn more realistically than that in third grade. And it's not like Picasso is incapable of drawing well, either. One of his early self-portraits displays his face in beautiful detail; his last looks like a painted, jagged rock.

And yet, Picasso's last self-portrait, as well as modernist art, such as cubism or eccentric and mind-bending depictions of scenarios ("The Scream" ?!?), have been appreciated for some supposedly latent or hidden meaning, something that is not communicated through its detail, but through its style, which happens to be exaggerated or non-realistic. I'll tell you one thing. Ms. Fogra's art looked a whole heck of a lot more beautiful and realistic than Picasso's last portrait, but the fact that that type of work is not so nearly appreciated makes me wonder about the appeal of non-realistic art.