tempest of realities Dinner Napkins bywren_leyland

At the turn of the last century, through mid-century, artists like Wassily Kandinsky were simplifying form to a level of pure abstraction. Some wanted to transcend the material visible world, and steer toward higher realities in spiritual, immaterial realms. When viewing photorealist art, we admire crisp details, and our focus narrows on objects. Desire for perfection grows. As we zoom out to blurred portrayals, we tend to think more conceptually and symbolically about injustices, social balance. Some of these visual symbols and shapes re-emerged in the energetic 1980's -- showing simplification as efficiency and dash, playful color.