Abstraction in art

Just as in the physical sciences, the term abstraction in art also refers to an antithetical definition, which starts from the deconstruction of what is evident, the object in front of our eyes, to arrive at a single entity-concept.

The artist reduces the visible world to a series of signs or presences and consciously chooses to deny the representation of reality to exalt their own feelings through shapes, lines and colours, relying solely on their intentionality.

The Dictionary of the Physical Sciences describes the word abstraction as "the process of constructing or defining new entities from classes of objects [...].". Its etymology comes from the Latin abstrahere, literally "to remove, to separate, to deviate".
Gianni Dessì
Hortus, 1986
Oil and mixed media on canvas / Olio e tecnica mista su tela / Öl und Mischtechnik auf Leinwand
101 5/8 x 111 x 1 3/8 in
258 x 282 x 3.4 cm

Thus, abstraction can be considered a transversal action in art’s history, which transcends adherence to a single movement. Indeed, it can be performed differently depending on the artist’s sensitivity and imagination.

The conceptual abstraction used by Giovanni Dessì in his Hortus (1986) offers an example. The artwork’s compositional structure is openly oriented and marked by linear elements jutting out from the pictorial surface to render a symbolic landscape.

In other cases, abstraction is conveyed through the material used in the creation of the artwork: in his Scavi Superficiali (1986) and Restauri Provvisori (1992), Franco Guerzoni evokes the concept of archaeology and the aniconic vision of the world through the stratification of the materials used, as if they were layers of plaster on a forgotten wall.

Sculpture, on the other hand, is the medium through which Elia Cantori expresses himself in Stanza (2008). Through a work made of plaster, metal and plastic, and lit by a cold neon light, he tackles the themes of the construction and deconstruction of matter and its physical phenomena, almost from a scientific perspective.
Minjung Kim
In orbita, 2005
Mixed media on rice paper / Tecnica mista su carta di riso / Gemischte Medien auf Reispapier
59 x 82 5/8 in
150 x 210 cm

Even the absence of matter can be used to convey abstraction in the case of Minjung Kim and her works Void in Fullness (2015) and Pieno di Vuoto (2006), the artist, inspired by oriental culture, transforms emptiness into a tangible presence, blurring the line between what exists and what does not, in a harmonious and almost musical way.

Marco Tirelli achieves the highest form of abstraction in his works Senza titolo (Diptych) (1994), Senza titolo (2004) and Senza titolo (2004). With impalpable beams of light, classical architectural columns and geometric shapes, the artist reproduces enigmatic and mysterious presences through a skilful play of light and space.

In the 1950s, Achille Perilli wrote of Paul Klee's work: “Painting – beautiful painting – is no longer the ultimate instrument of the artist. Rather, it is one of the means that can be used to make visible what is still unknown to man, about man. He makes this concept very clear in his work Omaggio a Nerone (1966). Starting with the primary form, he then breaks it down into a series of signs and engravings, until it loses any precise reference to the tangible world.
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