Non-objective Abstraction: A type of abstract painting that does not depict any kind of material thing, object, form, or place.
Some would argue that an "abstract shape" can be considered a "thing," however, in my paintings the linear configurations created by using Phi are not "things" or "shapes," per se, but are space divisions or space-shapes. Sometimes these space divisions are treated somewhat like shapes but they are really spaces.
When considering the relatively recent history of abstraction; the kind that is without any form of material description, I think of Kandinsky and Malevich. Kandinsky was more "pictorial" in his inclusion of interspaces between different forms that imply movement and space. He also eliminated the base plane of linear perspective. Malevich, if we use his "Suprematist Composition: White On White" of 1918, is more analytical, flattening out both object (white square) and space (within another white rectangle). Much of abstraction that developed in the early 20th century, took either a geometric (Malevich) or organic (like Arp) style or direction; tending to flatten both objects and their interspaces. These developments in abstraction occurred until Pollock came along with his "all over" approach.
I think Frank Stella got it right when he noted abstraction was lacking something "pictorial" in the traditional sense of the word. That to reduce things down to their lowest common denominator, which eventually led to Minimalism, was a dead end. I agree.
Non-objective Realism: This is what I call these abstract paintings I'm currently creating.
I call them "non-objective realism" because they are first, a type of abstraction that does not depict physical objects and spaces normally seen in our "real" world and secondly, they use "illusionism" that is normally found to enhance descriptive realism in painting. These illusions are traditionally used to give such qualities as volume, texture, spatial depth, movement, velocity, etc., when describing objects and spaces in the "real" world of our experiences. They also greatly affect our perception of different subject-matter in what we call "realism."