May 31, 2026
Abstract by Definition
I attended two panel discussions centered on Abstract by Definition: An Index American Abstract Artists--90th Anniversary Exhibition, curated by Saul Ostrow. American Abstract Artists is a group originally formed in 1937 as "a major forum for the exchange and discussion of ideas, and for presenting abstract art to a broader public." In the 30's NYC, social realism ruled the public's attention, defining the art of that time. AAA was an effort to assert an alternative aspect of art for the American public, which took twenty years and more to eventually bear fruit. As the vanguard switched from avant to rear to side saddle, events in art history extracted a price of fifty years or more to finally come to the place where addressing the future of abstraction can be addressed with a rich perspective sufficient to do the job.
AAA approached curator and critic Saul Ostrow with the task of shaping their 90th anniversary group exhibition, a gargantuan challenge creating a show involving over one hundred artists without resorting to a salon style hang. The ever inventive and original Ostrow did it, presenting us with clusters of artists' works in a way that I like to think of as ikebana. Elegantly treating art works in an artful manner -the essential task of a curator- Ostrow softly provoked speculation and debate as to the why's and wherefores of each arrangement in strategy that elegantly evaded direct interrogation. Superb.
Like I said, I attended both panel discussion events that bookended the exhibition to see what could be said, if not in defense of abstraction, but also in "offense" in advance not of a broken arm, but an intellectual appendage that could possibly grasp the future. I took notes.
First Panel:
Second Panel:
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