Den Haag (Acrylic on Canvas, 24×18)

I would prefer my work to lean more towards minimalism, but most of the time, finding that thin line where abstraction begins and realism ends is a source of  both joy and frustration. Den Haag (a part of Memoir of a Place series) has gone through a few revisions, with each one, the struggle on the depiction of the elegant details of the medieval building is quite evident. (Being an engineer definitely does not help……). The version above, devoid of much form and the accent is on the grandness of the structure, is what I consider the final version.

Coincidentally, while I am writing this post, I stumbled upon the writings of Patrick Heron from ARTLARK blog where the subject of abstraction is discussed and this is what caught my eye – “A purely abstract shape is easy to invent. What is difficult, so difficult that only genius can fully accomplish it, is the forging of a new formal image out of familiar, well-known forms”. Patrick Heron, “The Necessity of Distortion in Painting”, Oct 1949. Interesting take on abstraction…..