Have you found that using different art styles has different impacts on mood and wellbeing, on mental health? Is drawing a figurative picture more stimulating than painting an abstract, absorbing your mind as you try to represent the subject? Is abstract art more calming and mindful to experiment with? One focus of my Arts Council England-funded development project, Paint Your Mind: Art As Tool, is comparing the mental health impacts of different art styles. So how might figurative and abstract differ?
Figurative, or representational, art portrays a familiar or recogniseable subject. Pretty well all art was figurative before the late 19th or early 20th century, so it could also be called traditional art. Figurative art covers all genres, such as portraiture, still life, landscape and animal painting.
As you might imagine, defining abstract art is rather less predictable and more fluid. Overall, in abstract art, colour, light, line and form become more important than any specific subject matter. But within that there are different thoughts on what classes as abstract. Some believe only colour shapes and patterns class. Then there are paintings which take a figurative subject, only to distort it or use abstract, non-realist colours. What about art movements like Fauvism, Cubism or Dada? Are they truly abstract? Maybe only dripping or splashing paint on a canvas at random is the essence of abstraction.
At the end of the day, all art is about experimenting with colour and line to some degree. But however you might define figurative and abstract styles, they have their own parts to play in creativity. A lot depends on the individual. What is positive about abstract art for one person might be negative for another. Someone who has little confidence in drawing might find abstract art liberating but figurative art nerve-wracking or frustrating. I love drawing, but even so sometimes I prefer to try something experimental – choose a few colours and see what happens. That’s particularly in the evening when I’m tired. But this isn’t to downplay abstract art. In many ways it opens up more imaginative ways to be creative. Simply trying to reproduce a real-life subject might feel uninteresting, whereas creating an abstract image out of your own imagination might be more fulfilling.
Mental health impacts will obviously depend on the mental health issues themselves as well. Abstract art can be fantastic as a creative grounding tool for someone with panic or anxiety issues – creating a colourful pattern to release tension, or colouring geometric shapes as something very ordered and regular and calming. For someone struggling with trauma, guided figurative visualization could help express and think through feelings and responses. In depression, figurative art could open up more of a positive stimulus, easing overthinking as it becomes something specific to focus on – maybe going on to learn more about the subject matter, like a new wildlife species. But coloyr theory could make abstract art too helpful in depression – using bright colours to lift mood and energize.
In February, I’ll be running a new art for wellbeing challenge on this theme – alternating figurative and abstract art – with participants taking part from home in their own time. Starting on 1 February, All Change will run throughout the month. Every other day you’ll receive an art idea by email with example image – alternating between figurative and abstract styles. There’ll also be a private Facebook group where you can share how you get on with other participants (optional). At the end of the month I’ll ask participants which style and which ideas proved most positive. I’m looking forward to learning more!
To sign up go to https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/all-change-art-for-wellbeing-challenge-tickets-784434834707