From the Renaissance to the middle of the 19th century, Western art has been characterized as an attempt to recreate an illusion of what we see in reality. But by the end of the century, many artists felt the need to include transformations in the scientific, technological, and philosophical sectors in their artwork. Therefore, the sources these artists used would often mirror the social and intellectual Western thinking of the time. Abstract art is derived or, to use a more precise term, abstracted from a figurative or other natural source. Departure from accurate depiction can range from partial to complete; since perfect representation is practically impossible, all art can theoretically be considered abstract. Literally, abstraction means distancing an idea from its objective reference. For this reason abstract art is sometimes called non-representational art. This is probably why many people still don’t understand what abstract art actually is even though it’s been around for more than 100 years (some argue it started with the thousand year old cave drawings). Today, abstract art takes many different forms and dimensions, and its creators tend to focus on visual qualities over anything else, like texture, scale, and color to inspire curiosity and imagination. Producing abstract art is a boundless activity because there are no roadblocks to the ideas of your mind; it can feel like a release of emotions and a path to self-discovery at the same time.