LOY LUO THEORETICAL COLLECTION
ISSN [TBD] (Online series)
Exploring the Historical Origins and Inner Logic of Abstract Art from the Perspective of the Convergence between Philosophy and Art History
Loy Luo
(Feature Interviews, 2015 / Revised 2025)
Abstract
This essay investigates the philosophical and historical origins of abstract art through an inquiry into the convergence between Western art history and metaphysical philosophy. It argues that abstraction did not emerge merely as a formal reaction to modern technology or the invention of photography, but as a logical and spiritual continuation of Western art’s pursuit of “truth.” From Plato’s theory of forms to the ultimate collapse of representational realism, artists progressively shifted from the “truth of appearances” toward the “truth of ideas.” Abstract art thus becomes a visual philosophy — a response to Plato’s ancient challenge that art cannot reveal truth. Through this return to metaphysics, abstraction reclaims art’s capacity to reveal the spiritual essence of reality. The essay further contrasts Western metaphysical traditions with the Chinese absence of such a foundation, exploring why abstraction remains culturally misunderstood in China, and concludes by redefining abstraction as both a spiritual redemption and a metaphysical necessity within art’s evolution.
Keywords
Abstract art; philosophy of art; metaphysics; Plato; truth and representation; modernism; spiritual aesthetics; Chinese and Western art comparison; cultural logic; abstraction and transcendence
Full Text: LoyLuo-Theory-_Feature Interview 1- Historical Logic of Abstract Art
DOI: [TBD]
Biographical Note
Loy Luo (Luo Yi) is a contemporary artist based in New York. Her practice explores the philosophical and cultural dimensions of abstraction through painting, sculpture, and writing.
Banner image: Detail from a view of the of a work of Loy Luo: Untitled Memory-2.
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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons CC BY-NC 4.0