The Indelible Mark of Reality

"There is no abstract art. You must always start with something. Afterwards, you can remove all trace of reality. There’s no danger then... because the idea of the object will have left an indelible mark."
- Pablo Picasso

I would add that unless you have a highly trained eye, most observers are looking for the reality behind the abstraction. While part of the beauty of abstract art are the different interpretations that different people bring to the table (art as audience participation!), without a solid grounding in something to grasp onto, folks will just make up their own reality for the piece. And perhaps that's what the artist wants! But I like my abstraction with just enough foundation in ...something... to make the mystery elusive but yet within grasp.