Abstraction

Anthologized by critic and curator Lind, this engrossing compendium offers a banquet of insight into the theoretical underpinnings of abstraction in contemporary art. Lind broadly frames abstraction as the employment of varying degrees of extrapolation or withdrawal from concrete representation. This extensive formulation allows her to include subject matter spanning from post-Impressionist painting, through Russian Suprematism, to contemporary installation artist Liam Gillick. She loosely marshals these 26 excerpts and essays under three interrelated headings: formal, economic, and social abstraction. Weighty philosophical excerpts from canonical theorists such as Lucy Lippard and Fredric Jameson are juxtaposed with artists' musings, pieces of conceptual satire, and politically charged manifestos. Interwoven throughout the texts is a rich conversation on how abstraction is informed by socio-historical and political phenomena. For example abstraction is formulated as a critical response to the exploitation of migrant workers, capitalistic conformity, and the increasingly immaterial abstraction of global finance. Lind deals admirably with this bounty of material, and her attentive curation makes for a remarkably cohesive collection in which specific themes or artists receive treatment across multiple essays. This volume's array generates a multidisciplinary appeal, making it an excellent introduction for anyone intrigued by the theoretical and socio-historical concerns that imbue some of the modern art world's less transparent creations. (Mar.)