When National Artist for Literature F. Sionil Jose visited UP Mindanao, last 2005 or 2006, I remember him saying, “abstract artists are like writers who don’t know grammar.” I was never a fan of abstract art, especially the ones with no representational images, but I appreciate the unexplainable beauty resonated by the lines, colors and the strokes, and yes there might be beauty but it’s unexplainable, difficult to grasp, and somehow there is truth in what Jose said.
Jackson Pollock’s painting No. 05 somehow caught my attention, the splash of the paints, the strong colors–very virile, like rage, hate, and suffering. The painting reminds me of the movie Princess Mononoke, where the gods became demons because of much rage, hate, and suffering, the painting looks like the demon in the movie–worms that feed on the god’s flesh and anguish. I’m not suggesting that the painting is ugly because it has something to do with demons, hate, or whatever, I appreciate how the artists conveys the message without even representing it with figures, just the brush strokes, the colors, and so on.
Still, I am uncertain of these feeling because it seems to change whenever I look at the painting again, I’m trying to grasp but it remains unexplainable. For someone who draws representational objects, like me, I feel insincere when I try to make abstract art. I don’t know, it feels like I’m a fish (or mermaid for that matter) out of water, I’m not even sure of my explanation to Pollock’s painting if it jives with the his idea.
