Another day - locked out of another social media site. This time the excuse was 'Spamming my Neighbors'. This one was interesting as I saw some of the activity leading up to it. Right now, I am preparing for the next exhibit at my Gallery - Hendo-One (which by the way, some wanna-be art marketing genius in the next town over from me has a problem with simply because I won't work with her and change my gallery name because it offends her). Someone complained that the mere promotion of an abstract art gallery was spamming, and gone was my account on NextDoor.
Trying to figure all of this out, I did a little research on why so many people are turned off and strenuously object to abstract art. It is worth the time and effort to do this research on your own because it reveals some fascinating stuff with links to the political issues facing America today.
There has been a lot of psychological research done on this, and it basically comes down to a couple of personality traits that are quite dominant in my immediate surroundings. First - people who dislike abstract art and feel compelled to act out against it are individually and collectively 'high need for structure' individuals who dislike anything that doesn't fit with their world-view beliefs. They view abstract art as a radical left-wing activity simply because the art form makes little sense to them. I assure you, I am not in the radical left-wing camp, but it makes perfect sense. A few years ago, I had some objections to the way the last president was handling the Covid crisis, and all of the sudden I was losing life-long friends simply because I was not supporting 'patriotism' 100%. Not being 100% on board (high structure need), it unfortunately made me the common enemy of several x-friends. People who I used to pal around with will no longer acknowledge my existence in a variety of public venues. I find it interesting that these are some of the same people who now have issues with my art.
It's that 'all or nothing' mind-set that is at the root of this, and there is certainly enough of that here in Western North Carolina. To defend their position, myself and other abstract artists hear a lot of things like 'anyone could do that stupid stuff', and 'you are wasting your life'. It's all kind of sad, but to each his own. I challenge anyone who thinks like this to do some abstract work, put it out there, and see how they stack-up.
On tangential issues, the area in which I live was once thriving with textile mills. Then they left and things went downhill. After years of complaining about the lack of good-paying jobs, a couple of high-technology businesses started setting up shop in the area. The pay is really good, and their presence created a boost to the economy. Well, I watched two things happen. First, there were not enough trained people in the area to fill these high-tech jobs, and this has required a lot of remedial-training partnerships with the local community colleges to get the local workers up to speed. Secondly, the same people who were complaining about the lack of good-paying jobs are now complaining that the pay is too high and it is making it difficult to live here.
I could go on and on about this as I think the latter group are also the abstract art haters. However, consider this.... The average person in western North Carolina who sees the need to be constantly driving a truck will spend over $300,000 in interest payments over their lifetime financing their trucks... But they are doing the right thing????? 100% 'patriot' in the eyes of their peers
Good grief - I think I'll post my abstract image 'Mother Mary and Child', better yet, take it to the next local street fair, just as another social experiment in intolerance.