Departures Paul-Emile Borduas, 1905-1960. A common refrain by many who have not yet come to appreciate abstract art is “My kid could have done that!” The truth is that good abstract painting, like good representational painting, can’t be done well by just anyone. Paul-Emile Borduas was one of the truly great abstract artists and although he makes it look easy it is not. In fact, a worthwhile non-representational artwork is often more difficult to create because the artist doesn’t have a scene to copy or a face to depict. Realistic paintings give the viewer a head-start: that being the recognition of the scene, animal or person portrayed in a representational work. The observer’s natural predisposition towards the recognizable automatically gives that type of work an advantage; viewers may not like the scene but at least they know what was being attempted. This preview is from the 2012 Spring issue of ARABELLA. ARABELLA can be purchased at Chapters & Indigo and Barnes & Noble click here. The magazine is also available from many of our advertisers and retail stores click here To subscribe, call 1-289-296-0510 or click here . DIGITAL VERSION available from the Apple iTunes Store and from Magazine Newstand