Blank Canvases: The Subjectivity of Abstract Art

Words by Sophie Norton

Do you ever walk into a contemporary art gallery, see a large canvas stretched across the wall that’s painted in a singular shade of colour (perhaps with the odd line across it) and think: ‘I could paint that’? If so, you aren’t the only one. The debate of ‘what actually is art?’ is by far a recent one, as the broad definition and subjectivity of art as a human activity leaves little boundaries, in order to avoid contradicting itself. 

Audience reception to Jens Haaning’s ‘Take the Money and Run’, 2021

Excluding artwork from exhibitions for not meeting an invisible set of requirements defeats the whole idea of individual expression: art itself. There can’t be a notion of a ‘pure’ or ‘proper’ art form without implying the opposite; that some art is ‘impure’ or ‘improper’ in some way - and even if this was a thing, who has the authority to decide which is which?! 

Despite this, complications have arisen when the expectation of artwork differs from the result, particularly when that result is more abstract than anticipated. Last year the Kunsten Museum of Modern Art based in Aalborg commissioned Danish artist Jens Haaning a series of two artworks based on some of his previous material, which involved the framing of bank notes. The previous works are titled ‘An average Danish annual income from 2010’ and ‘An average Austrian annual income from 2007’, with the intention of illustrating wages as a scale of measurement for how labour is valued differently across countries within the EU. 

One of Jens Haaning’s previous artworks, that Kunsten intended to replicate and exhibit

The art museum in Aalborg were keen to have Haaning’s work in their 2021 exhibition ‘Work it Out’, which questioned the nature and future of the working world, and so paid Haaning the comfortable sum of 534000 Danish Krone (roughly equivalent to £62,000) in advance of the artworks. Instead of the pieces they expected, Haaning arrived with two blank canvases, together titled ‘Take the Money and Run’. The museum were reportedly unhappy with the situation, but hung the paintings in their designated spots in the exhibition nonetheless. The artist and institution are now engaged in a lawsuit concerning the cash paid to Haaning as part of the commission, which he allegedly isn’t keen to return. 

Jens Haaning, ‘Take the Money and Run’, 2021

Whilst amusing, Haaning’s choice to deliver blank canvases must be considered an artistic one, as the art movement Abstract Expressionism dictates; where emphasis is placed on the spontaneous act of creation in conjunction with emotional expression, rather than on the objective form or intention of the artwork itself. The Aalborg Kunsten Museum acknowledges the legitimacy of Haaning’s work, stating on their website that his art falls into a category that “leaves materials as a trace left behind or a framework for an idea or an action”. Despite this, the tension between the artist and instruction in this instance comes from the handover of money - and their lawsuit against Haaning suggests that they don’t value abstract art as highly as other art styles.

Sotheby’s Auction House in London would beg to differ, having seen multiple record-breaking sales of Abstract Expressionist artwork in recent times. A key moment was at auction in 2013, when one of Barnett Newman’s pieces from 1953 titled ‘Onement VI’ sold for $43.8 million. Newman was a key member of the Abstract Expressionists alongside the likes of Pollock and Rothko, whose work is all sought after due to its finite numbers. Newman himself painted 86 paintings over the course of his lifetime, and every single artwork seems to sell for thousands. 

Barnett Newman, ‘Onement VI’, 1953

Sotheby’s were also at the centre of Banksy’s ‘Girl with a Balloon’ print that was famously half-shredded during auction in 2018 and hence changed title to: ‘Love is in the Bin’. Unlike the case with Haaning, Banksy’s unexpected new work is now worth far more than the original print, simply because of the way it was created. For this performance, Banksy has been likened to Picasso, who famously stated that: “the urge to destroy is also a creative urge”. The ‘creative urge’ is one which Haaning, Newman and Banksy all have in common, despite the different ways in which they express it. 

Banksy, ‘Love is in the Bin’, 2018

So perhaps next time you walk into a gallery and see a primary-coloured canvas that appears easy to imitate you’ll consider the artist’s act as well as the result you see in front of you. Who knows… It might have a dramatic story behind it, just like with Haaning!