Body Of Work

To begin, I would ask myself: what does it mean for a body of abstract artwork to be cohesive? For some contemporary abstract painters, it might mean using a consistent color palette, while for others, it could involve a unifying theme or theory behind the work. Cohesion in abstract art depends on the approach you take, but setting some guiding principles from the start can really help. These rules will give your abstract paintings common traits that tie everything together.

For example, you might choose a dominant color or a general mood to carry through all the pieces. In my own practice, my 2021 collection Frozen Forest was centered around a cold, moody vibe—lots of dark, earthy browns that gave the series a somber, almost gloomy atmosphere, rather than a bright or sunny one. To maintain cohesion across the collection, I limited myself to using five core colors. I varied only the saturation and intensity of these colors across the different abstract paintings.
However, cohesion doesn’t always have to come from color alone. Some contemporary abstract artists I admire create bodies of work inspired by poems, philosophical concepts, or personal stories. The unifying element might not be visual—it could be conceptual or ideological. 

Ultimately, style will always emerge in a body of abstract work, whether it’s color-driven or idea-driven. Style comes from you—the way your hand moves, the tools you use, the unique mark-making techniques that become part of your signature approach. These aspects will naturally define the style of your contemporary abstract paintings as they evolve.

Before embarking on a new body of abstract work, my advice is to answer as many questions as possible and establish the rules that will guide you. The more structured you are at the start, the more creative freedom you’ll have within those parameters. For instance, decide early on which colors you’ll use throughout the series. You might even choose a specific sound, phrase, or narrative to inspire the collection as a whole.

Other important decisions might include how many pieces you want to create. Will you work on them simultaneously, or one at a time? What size will your abstract paintings be? Will you create a series of small works, or focus on fewer but larger-scale pieces?

By establishing these boundaries, you create a framework that helps your abstract ideas flow more freely within those constraints, leading to a more cohesive and intentional body of work.