The difference between art and craft, is the artists connection to the Divine.
Art is creation speaking through the mind and soul to the paper, clay or canvass. If true and pure, it will speak to others as being something of a marvel and an insight into the spiritual world.
It is a tether to what one sees and what one feels. It is the exquisite translation of thought into reality. Feelings into shape.
And realism versus abstraction is on a whole different level. The abstract is a representation of the world that has no form. It is the appearance of emotion(s), feelings, insight and intuition. The unseen world brought to life by the enlightened soul. It is more than the realistic approach of the here and now.
The artist can be taught to see shapes, line and color as represented in the real world. However the abstract artist is more concerned with the presence of the world as could be seen in negative space. Dark matter, if you will. That which is not seen. The idea that life is more than figurative. That thoughts and ideas also have form, if not invisible to the naked eye.
Just as journalism encompass the “who, what, where, when and why”, art encompasses the basic elements of design. Color, shape, line, rhythm and tension.
“Art is the human disposition of sensible or intelligible matter for an aesthetic end.”
– James Joyce
Bringinthesheaves 