Pure expression of energy/passion/emotion that makes no reference to any scene, real or imagined, can allow viewers to follow the artist's actions as they might follow a dance performance or a piece of instrumental music, bringing their own experiences to the movement and flow of energy. The lack of subject matter lets viewers dance freely with the artist – feeling the strokes, slashes, splatters, and drips – allowing the artist’s actions and reactions to resonate with their own emotional lives.

The colors the artist chooses: lively, somber, deep, clashing, etc, can help to evoke and reinforce the emotions being portrayed. Without reference to any physical or imagined reality, the artist challenges and welcomes the viewer to enter fully into the energy/passion/emotion embodied in pure mark making.

Featured: 9th Century Tile Fragment, excavated in Iraq, Samarra.