The Brooklyn Rail

How are artists, curators, and historians thinking about the condition of abstraction in contemporary art? The question has an evergreen quality, and the answer can never be singular. In the winter of 1968 Irving Sandler and Barbara Rose sent a questionnaire to their peers, asking them to comment on the “sensibility of the times.” They were especially curious to learn what was considered to be avant-garde, and how the definition might have shifted. Inspired by their collaborative effort and community spirit, Phyllis Tuchman organized the September Critics Page with the assistance of Charles Schultz as a way of marking the moment again. Abstraction Now repurposes the questionnaire sent out by Rose and Sandler with a slight twist, turning the focus towards the current state of abstraction. Tuchman and Schultz invited a small group of participants whose generational range is matched by the variety of the ways the engage the art world: some are makers, others curate, a few write history. Their responses are wonderfully varied, an exciting condition of non-confluence for the current state of abstraction.

QUESTIONNAIRE

1. Is there a sensibility to abstract artwork at this moment? If so, how would you characterize it?
2. Is there an avant-garde? If so, what is its nature?
3. Has the sensibility towards abstraction become academic? If so, what are its characteristics?
4. Has the condition of abstract art changed? Has the acceleration of communication and the increased attention of social media made the pioneering abstract artists of yesterday into today's academy? Has this affected the artist? Does the growth of art schools affect the abstract artists of the moment?
5. Is there the same division between abstraction and representation as formerly? How has this relationship changed?