What do you look for in a work of art? asked Gromyko [link]

Sometimes it is the power of the compositional elements that drag one in aggressively,
shout out to you, send one cavorting along the lines and shapes, swimming through passages of softness, floating and then coming up sharp, quickly with a sense of decompression. Sometimes the gentle temptation of a siren luring one in slowly and sensitively, caressing and soothing.
Sometimes they sing, shout or screech rend the air, crash into the space or sidle in with ice coolness.

Whether it is abstract (the elements as content) or figurative/illustrative (the narrative, story telling content): making the distinction is merely a way of talking about
what is seen to make simple comparative distinctions, the compositional/visual elements that grasp you do so anyway. In fact the two I think have to work together neither necessarily have to come first.

The motive for producing has for me to come from the persons striving to make a comment, respond to, make sense of, weave a pattern, give order to their life and the sense of the universal. The more complex and involved the persons reactions are and the more thoughtful and intriguing use of visual elements the more appealing and compelling the work.

I want probably most of all a sense of play and humour without the sin of seriousness.

Simple huh?