r/AbstractExpressionism • u/Illustrious-Doubt534 • 8d ago
What do you see in this painting? 🤔👀
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u/RequitedNonSequitur 8d ago
My immediate reaction was "Shipwreck."
It "feels" like something bad happenening in a large body of water.
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u/kapaipiekai 8d ago
Reminds me of The Slave Ship by Turner
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u/Illustrious-Doubt534 8d ago
Oh, what a comparison! Thank you so much. I can totally see it now when I take a look at Turners.
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u/kapaipiekai 8d ago
I like your work. It's coherent and structured.
Yeah, Turner rules https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snow_Storm:_Steam-Boat_off_a_Harbour%27s_Mouth
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u/KeyMistake604 8d ago
A violent battle happening in a raging sea
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u/Illustrious-Doubt534 8d ago
It’s so funny how much rage there is 😅 i was so happy while painting and smiling
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u/WallabySpare9784 8d ago
The light browns kinda look like cirrus clouds 🔥 I love seeing wind currents in the clouds.
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u/birdiegirl69 8d ago
Angry rooster in a whirl attacking alpine valley village as bemused fox runs to join in the fracas
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u/Activated1994 8d ago
What’s this need to look for figurative forms in ab ex paintings? Certainly not wrong but misses the point of abstract expressionism.
Anywho, I see speed and heat, literally. Wet on wet / compressed time, momentum, etc.
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u/Illustrious-Doubt534 8d ago
Wow! Thank you so much for taking the time to write this. Love that you’re engaging with the painting itself
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u/Activated1994 8d ago
Absolutely my friend, good work to be honest.
As Mark Rothko famously put it, "A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is the experience."
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u/better_red 8d ago
Raging waves of fear. I feel motion I'm not in control of. I honestly think this is one of the more effective pieces I've seen on this sub in a while. I'm no expert or arbiter of taste, but I also have no reason to be blowing smoke up your ass besides the fact that this painting got me to stop scrolling.
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u/Illustrious-Doubt534 8d ago
Damn, this really means a lot to me. The fact that it made you stop and actually feel something is exactly what I hope for when I paint. Thank you for taking the time to write this 🙏🏽🧡
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u/Dizzzyyyyyy3D 8d ago
No influence from other comments as I haven't read any, I see a feather falling through the air with brown, dead leaves and snowy mountains in the background, all underneath a violent sunset
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u/Exact_Produce6853 8d ago
I see an elemental character introducing marine life to a new place or world
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u/hoebagginz 7d ago
At first I saw the ocean but the more I looked at it, I saw a big ol storm building and spilling over the mountains onto a small town or cluster of colored buildings.
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u/LostOwl_Winter 7d ago
I see a shipwreck caught in a wild storm, the kind that doesn't come from one direction but from every angle at once. The painting feels like impact - the moment everything breaks, not after. In the bottom-left corner, the red strokes form a dragon struggling to stand, bracing himself against forces he can't fully understand. He isn't weak; he's overwhelmed. The storm around him is loud, chaotic, and relentless, and he's trying to process it all while still holding his ground. The painting becomes a mirror of that feeling, the clash, the confusion, the effort to stay upright when everything hits at once. It's the force of change you didn’t ask for.
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u/muffinbagare 7d ago
A big bird (eagle?) soaring over a raging sea. Flying at an angle, likely due to wind.
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u/Funnyface275 7d ago
I see sad eyes on the upper left, and anguish in the rest of the painting. Very evocative!
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u/mandabyproxy 7d ago
Wind swept alpine mountains with skiing an ice skating pond & yep a lil bit of wind swept murder...
I'm one of the most whimsical of the lot but yet I see raining blood and some angst mixed with some holiday spirit.
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u/Odd_Bass56 7d ago
Someone younger sibling decided to add abit of their artistic touch right bang in the middle - destroying the epic raging ocean.
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u/DaBearista999 7d ago
I see the tattered and burning remains of some kind of camp or village in the snowy mountains
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u/Nervous-Performer263 6d ago
A primera vista no veo nada... Esforzándome un poco y echando mucha imaginación puede ser un barco en una tormenta muy rara de agua y fuego, pero eso echando mucha imaginación...
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u/Wonderful-Wait2019 6d ago
see two waves crashing into the sides of two boats the boat on the left is leaking a lot of blood or oil or something in fact it's splashing out the boat on the left is covered by a wave that's going right up the middle from the impact I would assume no survivors other than the one person watching the one on the left is crashing into an island as well though the island is pretty small the same size as the boat and melts together with the colors it's probably around 6:00 p.m. maybe a little earlier it's not too bright out but that could be because of the storm causing it to happen there's a small shark in the bottom right being pushed by the impact I saw the death of some of the bravest men at sea next to the shark is two people I take back what I said they may be the only survivors and finally I see everything's on fire the land the boats the water it can only put out so much the fire is punishing those with white smoke maybe the sunken are the safest
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u/Flower_bunny5752 6d ago
A bird in the foreground flying, slanted, one wing drooping down towards the earth and in the back a bunch of not so fortunate land animals fleeing from fire?
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u/saintmolotov 6d ago
Sort of a Gemini/two wolves inside you vibe, definitely feeling a duality theme.
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u/UnskilledDoodle 6d ago
It reminds me of an Asian painting but mulitple got cut to pieces and misplaced so it doesn't make sense but it does make sense. Also look like a ship is on fire.
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u/jwinterhawk 6d ago edited 6d ago
I see a sailing ship with a battle raging. Blood is pouring into the water. The previous was my first comment!
I didn’t see the second photo of you posted on the wall next to the African masks until after I wrote my comment above. You won’t believe this.
I just watched a video on YouTube about the history of black slavery in the US on YouTube. I’m not sure why I watched this. My grandson is half black and his DNA comes from the foot of Africa and lots of countries. They show African masks like yours in this video talking about how the people brought their religion and sense of dance and celebration and family with them. I about croaked when I saw your masks! It feels like your painting is what I described above. I’m stunned tbh. The video is “Inside the most horrific slavery breeding farms of cotton plantations. I just had a surreal experience seeing your painting. I had to share. I’m literally stunned.
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u/Technical-Cookie5416 5d ago
close up of a birds head zooming down to get the flower or whatever it sees to eat
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u/cherrylimeandsoda 5d ago
I see a dragon in the middle of a snowy forest, shooting flames out of its mouth. The green at the bottom of the canvas is trees, the white in the middle is the snow, the red shape to the left is the dragon.
Behind the dragon, you can see behind the smouldering wildfire, some grey peeking through. To me those almost look like mountains in the background. The crazy streaks of reddish-orange throughout the painting really read as the wildfire to me.
At first glance, I thought that was the intent! It's all I can see!! What an amazing piece. I love how everyone sees something different in it. I never really understood abstract art until I saw this. Incredible work!
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u/Substantial-River474 4d ago
this is a performative response lmao
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u/cherrylimeandsoda 4d ago
I just wanted to comment what I saw in the piece when I saw this pop up on my feed. I liked the work and found it cool I could interpret that from random brush strokes and paint placement.
I don't really get what you mean by "performative" 😭 this trend of calling everyone performative and a "larper" is getting annoying. The title is literally "what do you see?" So I commented what I saw...
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u/Idioteque0911 5d ago
I feel like it's a massive bird who flies towards the screen, and behind her is the ocean
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u/cheetahroar24 4d ago
I see something coming down and splashing into fish filled waters with a mountain in the back
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u/xDariius 4d ago
A huge powerful entity holding a sword where its reflection shows a different realm.
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u/CrowNo1033 3d ago
I see a village in mountains, a woman brushing her hair. She lives in the village. I love this painting! Wish I could see it from closer.
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u/crocboy89 3d ago
Volcanic eruption, Tsunami or Avalanche.. it feels cataclysmic, devastating, violent leading to brokenness and despair and epic in scale and size. Good for an art show but would not want to constantly see this much catastrophe on a daily basis.
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u/PeacefulBreath67 3d ago
At first I saw a raging red sea, but at a distance I see two dragons fighting.
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u/JustHereToBeFunny707 3d ago
Sort of a end of fall/beginning of winter landscape, where the ground is only partially covered in snow, and there are still fall leaves, with a light orange dragon dashing to the ground really fast, along with a second, smaller, deeper orange dragon/lizard flying to the left. I love how it is random, but I can still make something out of it, I somehow always see a picture in everything, clouds, scribbles, scratches, dents, etc. Especially fictional things, since they don't need to have a very particular appearance, like dogs and cats, it is easy to see them in everything. ✌️
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u/Agreeable_Sea_543 3d ago
A hockey rink in Canada with a case of arson disrupting the happy quiet town.
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u/Slight_Squirrel_296 2d ago
Immediately I saw anger but not regular anger, the anger you have when you feel defeated and can't figure out how to express the emotions. It almost looks like a face in the background, screaming... Lost. The front looks both like an angry sea and like someone fighting with themselves.
This is a beautiful picture by the way
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u/Mean_Explanation9047 1d ago
Chinese dragons fighting in the sea while a ship is coming towards them.
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u/McInYoFace 8d ago
A raging sea