The point of abstract art, and all its varieties, is the same as representational art, or any other art form, and that is to appeal to our sense of good art. If there is one thing that holds true about all perspectives on a particular matter it's that how we understand something changes the way we see it.

Abstract art does take a different perspective to understand at first glance, but quickly that becomes the same as understanding a work of representational art. All good art is bounded together by universal principles of art making or as Peter Behrens puts it,"the fundamental principles of all form creating work." If you can tune into those principles I think you will began to see that both representational and nonrepresentational arts are on the same wavelength. And I would argue that once you see the similarities you'll also appreciate even more their differences.

Clement Greenberg once argued that, "The nonrepresentational or abstract, if it is to have aesthetic validity, cannot be arbitrary and accidental, but must stem from obedience to some worthy constraint." There can unappealing abstract work just as there can unappealing realistic work. What Greenberg is telling us is that without any foundational knowledge about how artwork actually works--things like the principles of design or the elements of arts etc--the work falls apart. The truth about a work won't reach us.

Appreciating art is instant in most cases. You know it when you see it. But how do we know we're really seeing it as we should? We know we shouldn't judge a book by its cover but with art that's all we're left with most of the time. I think that's when we should re-examine are own perspectives and to ask ourselves about how we're seeing the art in front of us.

David Apatoff, in his blog Illustration Art wrote several articles comparing illustration to abstract art beginning in August 2006 and continuing till November 2006. He concluded that it's "Only the form is essential to art" If you can tune into the essentials I think you can begin to see the point of abstract art.