Ken Crost Art
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The Art of the Abstract
Abstract art has been around since the beginning of the twentieth century. Hilma af Klint, along with Wassily Kandinsky, were the first painters to devote their artistic careers to the practice of abstract art. Hilma was a Swedish artist and mystic who is considered to be one of the pioneers of abstract art. She was born in 1862 and studied at the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. She was also interested in spiritualism and Theosophy and participated in séances with a group of women called "The Five". She believed that her paintings were inspired by higher beings who communicated with her through her mediumship. She created hundreds of paintings and drawings that were mostly kept hidden from the public until after her death in 1944. Her work was rediscovered in the 1980s and has since gained recognition and appreciation from the art world. Her 2018 show at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum’s exhibition “Hilma Af Klint: Paintings for the Future” was the most-visited exhibition in the museum’s 60-year history.
Wassily Kandinsky was a Russian-born artist who is widely regarded as one of the pioneers of abstract art. He was born in 1866 and studied law and economics at the University of Moscow before moving to Munich to pursue his artistic career. According to some sources, Kandinsky saw Monet’s haystacks painting in 1895 when he visited an exhibition of French impressionists in Moscow. He was fascinated by Monet’s use of color and light, and he realized that painting could go beyond depicting reality. He later wrote that Monet’s haystacks were “the first impressionist picture that had a really powerful impact on me” and that they "made me suddenly realize that painting has a life of its own." He believed that art should express inner feelings and emotions rather than imitate external reality. He experimented with different forms, colors, and symbols to create his own abstract language of painting.
I’ve always been fascinated by abstract art with its ability to move the viewer through the use of shapes, forms, and color. It was said that when people viewed Mark Rothko’s paintings it would bring tears to their eyes.
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Abstract faces in art invite viewers into a world of interpretation, where emotions, stories, and identities are conveyed through distorted features, simplified lines, or exaggerated proportions. This style encourages us to look beyond literal representations and instead focus on the essence of a face—the feelings it evokes, the energy it emits, and the mystery it holds. The abstraction often emphasizes universal themes, like the depth of human emotion or the shared nature of our experiences, rather than the unique details of an individual. By doing so, it strips away specifics and dives into the core of what it means to be human.
The use of abstract faces also opens the door to exploring identity and its fluidity. Traditional portraiture often captures a person at one moment in time, grounded in reality, but abstract faces allow artists and viewers alike to imagine a multitude of identities, personas, or emotions coexisting within one figure. This could imply that our identities are not fixed but layered, shifting, and complex. In this way, abstract faces not only represent a person but may also mirror the viewer's own thoughts, feelings, or perceptions, making them deeply personal and uniquely interpreted works of art.
On a broader scale, abstract faces can symbolize the universal human experience. They often blur the lines between race, age, gender, or culture, suggesting that beneath our external features, we share common feelings and connections. This abstraction pushes us to think about how we relate to one another on an emotional or existential level, transcending physical differences. In doing so, abstract faces can become a canvas not just for the artist's expression but also for collective humanity's hopes, fears, and dreams. Their openness and ambiguity make them enduringly powerful and thought-provoking.
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 Four in the Morning |  The Party's Over |  I'm in the Mood |
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 Send in the Clowns |