All great paintings have an abstract design underneath the figurative elements. All abstract painting does is eliminate these figurative elements and emphasize the pure design of the work. I like certain abstract painters more than others but in general I think it is an exciting period of art as is the whole modern art revolution so many things happened so fast and there was so much controversy surrounding those times that now in the period of Postmodernism I miss all of the excitement and energy. some of my favorites are Arshille Gorky, Picasso, Braque, Jackson Pollock and Kandinsky.