Abstract Painting gets a lot of negative comments by art gallery visitors and art buyers. Many people feel it's meaningless or worthless. These people are confounded when they hear other people praise an abstract work.

It's easy to feel that Abstract Painting is a joke when men and women dressed in black clothing use alien terms or theatric explanations in talking about an Abstract Painting. It's not so easy to joke about an abstract painting bringing millions of dollars at an auction.

What is the deal? How does a canvas with meaningless paint smears come to be so appreciated. It stands for nothing, it isn't a picture, it's meaningless.

First of all, not all abstract paintings are "good" just because they have been exhibited. Some are not worthy of appreciation, and no one cares about them at all. So, now the question - How can you tell which abstract paintings are good and which ones are bad?

To explain this I will use some comparisons to other judgments you already make in your life. What's good or bad about jewelry, furniture or music. These are three areas in which most people will make some judgment as to what they PREFER. And preferences are what we are actually describing when we talk about good or bad.

Experts often share preferences, although they may not agree exactly on many different objects in the area of their expertise. And you may be an expert in one area and not another. But even at the beginner level you can learn and understand a lot.

Jewelry is the first example. Aside from market valuation, the preferences for jewelry are based first on how a particular piece looks. Does the jewelry have beautifully colored stones or metal? Are the stones or metals arranged into a beautiful display? Does this jewelry go with your look or wardrobe?

If you are color blind or don't like jewelry this comparison is of little value. But if you like color, form, display and whether one object can be used with the colors and textures of another object then you can see the similarities here.

Furniture preferences are usually based on shape, color, textures, lines of the overall design. Aside from size, comfort, durability or cleanability there are a lot of visual preferences made when a sofa or table are selected.

If you have no visual preferences or have poor vision, then comfort and price are possibly the only criteria you have in establishing your preferences.

Music preferences are based on rhythm, melody, harmony, arrangements, etc. If you can hear music and there are many different kinds to select from, then you will soon form preferences. Not everybody likes music. Some people dislike jazz or rock, others prefer classical or blues.

How do these examples compare to Abstract Painting? In this way - If you look at several abstract paintings at some point you will feel one is more to your liking than another. At first you may experience this as one is less offensive than another. If you look at many works your preferences will mount, you may be able to rank order the paintings by preference. You can try assigning them a rating like one to ten based on your level of appreciation.

This is the beginning of appreciation for Abstract Paintings. This appreciation will deepen and become more discerning the more you look at the works of different artists in books, on internet, or in galleries and museums.