If this abstract work, painted by Clare Coyle Taylor on December 27, 2006, is a glimpse into her feelings and a cathartic exercise, I would say she had a very confusing day, filled with stops and starts, and a lack of surety as to what she believed in and chose to do. The hectic turmoil is represented through her use of wavy, straight, broken, and twisting lines of colored pencil, creating maze-like paths that weave across the (Bristol) paper like snarls in a rat’s nest, or thin trailing roots, lacing the ground as they spread outward. The only place where there is a semblance of unity and stability is in the top left and bottom right corners, where Taylor has created two squares, filled in with a mix of green and red colors. Among the lines, bits of green, gray, yellow, tan, and brown colors pop up, causing the eye to travel along the otherwise-confusing black lines. To me, this work is a representation of the inside of her mind; it seems the solid squares are concrete ideas or beliefs that the artist holds, and the rest, her jumble of thoughts and confusion. The lines form almost a spiral in the middle of the page, suggesting endless possibilities, and hinting at the fact that there is an infinite number of feelings that will continue to swirl up in the artist’s psyche, overwhelming her. However, due to the ambiguity of abstract art, a definite explanation and analysis of this piece is a near impossibility. The artist herself may not even know what it means or stands for. For all we know, she could have sat down at her canvas, closed her eyes, and scribbled. Yet, the importance of abstract art is not in its definition, but rather the viewer’s personal reaction to it.
