The word 'image,' in a discussion of art, can be validly used to refer not just to the visual arts, but to all the arts.  In the visual arts image generally refers to an individual work, though in the case of collage, assembled sculpture, works comprised of multiple panels or sculptural objects, the overall image is actually a collection of indivoidual objects forming a whole.  In poetry, a work is an assembly of individual images. While in music a piece is a succession of emotional and sometimes verbal images.  In dance, many flowing images are strung together to form a whole  In cinema the same is even more obviously true.  And, given that the whole of any of these non-visual creations cannot be said to exhist without any oif the parts, the whole can also be thought to comprise an image in the mind.

The conceptual foundation: The creation and witnessing of imagery (or of any form of art, for that matter), regardless of how it's been done, is an exercise in shamanistic ritual. And, intended that way consciously or not, it will have the same effect.

The gravity of the image is always of greater importance than are - however highly regarded or seemingly inelegant - the tools used in its making, or the materials of which it's made.  The means of the production of a sensed image may be almost entirely irrelevant, and to become preoccupied with the means of production may seriously distract from the challenge of engaging the range of its possible meanings and implications - not to mention the spectator pleasures of inquiry and discovery.

Representational art is descriptive.
Non-objective art is suggestive.
In one case, there will be things you recognize. In the other, things you may think you recognize.
The experiencie of a work of art is always a journey of discovery. Ultimately one discovers one's self. The significances you find in a work, whether intended by the artist or not, will ultimately be what you've brought with you.