Thoughts on abstract realism

I wanted to share some of my thoughts on realistic painting and abstract realism. Abstract realism is a phrase coined by (I believe) David Leffel, a modern master in the school of Rembrandt. At least that is where I first heard it.
Abstract realism means that painting in realism is in reality more abstract than abstract art itself.  For instance, Jackson Pollock dripped and poured paint on his canvases and that is what they were-canvases of poured paint. However, realism painters use color and brush strokes, light and dark, hard and soft edges, etc to create optical illusions that trick your eye into seeing three dimensional objects on a two dimension canvas.
For example, take my painting "Flowers in Purple;" from a distance it looks like flowers in a tin vase. But when you look up close, the colors and brush strokes collapse into a very abstract painting. Ultimately painters are like magicians, tricking you into seeing things that are not there. The next time you go to a museum, look closely at those very realistic paintings and you may find a very abstract work of art.