Introduction
Abstraction entails the use of visual language of form to create compositions that exist with some extent of independence from their worldly visual references. This is a trend that has permeated in art since the renaissance era. While most abstraction was seen in paintings and sculptures, modernist artists are incorporating this technique in films. This has been very apparent through many films that we have watched throughout the course. Abstraction imageries have tempered the plots to good effect. The imagination is that these were deliberates attempts to communicate certain perspectives. This paper explores this possibility citing two films that we have watched throughout the course. The attraction to abstraction that is witnesses in modernist artists is influence by the logic that characterizes perspective and is an ardent attempt to create a chimera of visible reality.
Discussion
Exit through the gift Shop is a course movie that has used abstraction imageries to good effect. All abstractions emanate from nature and are based on material things found in nature. In this film, the director in this film relies on information to illustrate to create an illusion. Information can be found independently of a particular form although it cannot subsist without a material form. Through characters like Banksy, the director uses the material qualities found in nature and at the same time shows that the same qualities are independent of the material things. For instance, through the character of Banksy, we are made to appreciate graffiti as art that makes a difference, yet from an aesthetic value, still see that there is a difference between graffiti and art. The use of abstraction in this way shows that things are both material and immaterial. In this way, the film communicates that the boldness in an action does not give the said action merit (Bansky, 2010).
Unlike the previous film, abstraction is used to even greater effect in A Zed and Two Noughts to study the existence and non-existence of life as seen through the cycles of birth, death and decay. The two brothers in the course film are fascinated birth, the existence of life, death and subsequent decay after the death of their wives. The director in the film uses abstraction to explore the physical properties characterizing existence and non-existence. From the material nature of human existence, the director of the film allows thoughts independent of this phenomenon to flourish in the characters of the two brothers. Such thoughts include the existence of people as human beings. The film allows us to question the existence of life from a physical perspective. Abstraction is used effectively in these films to nurture expressionism (Greenway, 1985).
Conclusion
Abstraction is a common style in these two course films. While it is not apparent to a slacking eye, the keenness required to identify its use is close to the requirements that the style asks of the viewer. The use of abstractions speaks very heavily of our relationship with reality, especially in the modern society. Abstraction indicates that the existence of a material thing is not enough. One should go ahead to probe as more often than not, apparent things disguise other characteristics from within. This is very important in the modern era where reality is blurred by happenings in the society that question established beliefs. The use of abstraction in these films serves to sharpen the viewer.
References
Bansky (2010). Exit Through the Gift Shop. United Kingdom. Revolver Entertainment.
Greenway, P. (1985). A Zed and Two Noughts. United Kingdom. Artificial Eye.
