How would you describe this painting?

Inspired by something @chris_dabnor mentioned during @magsy’s talk, I thought I’d experiment with an idea here on The Club.

Look at this painting for 5 minutes, how would you describe it? Share your description below :slight_smile:

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This looks like our sprint planning :rofl: :rofl:

Now for real my personal opinion: I’m not a fan of paint on a canvas. Sure it can be pretty but not worth millions. For me, I believe this painting is a mix of different elements but I can’t see what has been painted. It’s hard to see the logic behind this painting as my question would be: “what is it?”. I tried looking upside down also but I’m just not artistic :smiley:

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There are two possible replies.

  1. It is an exploration of shape and colour, using a seemingly random selection of organic, non-regular shapes on a predominantly yellow background. The shapes are arranged roughly around a diagonal locus running from bottom left to top right of the canvas.

  2. If I knew more about abstract art, its principles, history and notable practitioners, I could describe it in terms of artistic movements and styles, and artists who may have provided an inspiration to the creator of this work. But I don’t, so I can’t.

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I still think we could put together a workshop on it…

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Omg I just got a flashback to my highschool days art class.

I’m afraid I’m turning into a horrible person because my first reaction was “Why would I do that, what’s the goal?”

This sounds so horrible writing it out but it’s the most truthful response I can give. I do very badly with things that are seemingly pointless, I’d like to know the why.

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The cynic in me would say that the goal was to establish or reinforce your credentials as an artist.

Looking at the picture again after a while, it reminds me very much of the sort of canvas that someone I worked for would produce in their spare time. This person was a very senior civil servant whose background was as a very experienced and respected economist; indeed, one of the people who (literally) wrote the book on utilities privatisation in the UK in the 1980s.

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I see a lot of cakes fighting each other to death! :astonished:

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This reminds me of when I saw the Guernica exhibit at the Reina Sofia Museum in Madrid. Guernica is one of Picasso’s most famous paintings. It is an anti-war painting created in response to the bombing of Guernica by the Nazis and Spanish Nationalists.

The exhibit included all this information about the context and history, why the painting was created. It include some of Picassos other famous works, and also preperatory sketches that Picasso created. It shows how the painting is not just a random mess of shapes and faces. There was planning involved, every line is there for a reason.

I don’t know what this painting is. I feel like we can’t know it by just looking at it. As a tester, I’d want to know why a particular feature is being created, what problem is it solving. Without that context, I don’t think I could fully test that feature, just as I could never fully appreciate the painting Guernica without fully understanding the history and reason Picasso created that portrait.

Looking at this painting, overall I see a collection of shapes and lines of various colours. Specific things that stand out is a shape that looks like a bear claw in the bottom left. This is painted over some other abstract colours. Towards the middle top of the painting, I see a concentrated section of brighter colours - purples and blues with some yellow lines on top. In the top left corner, I see some lines that remind me of sand dunes.

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Not making much sense, all these paintings should com with DETAILED descriptions :slight_smile:

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Mightn’t a detailed description take away somewhat from the creative interpretation? :grin:

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It looks a lot like a Kandinsky.

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It’s either upside down, or it’s a sandshark which has embarrassed itself intensely

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Yes. Composition VII, 1913.

Note the color difference from the image at the top .
“Each color lives by its mysterious life.”

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So, basically it’s a early example of an N.F.T. , dating back to 1913 , because the original, actually, does not exist.