Among collectors and museumgoers, painting is more popular than ever, and while much of the attention in recent years has focused on figuration, abstraction has been a site for free experimentation, developing a rich complexity that more than ever rewards careful viewing. "Painting Abstraction" is the world's only up-to-the-minute guide to contemporary abstract painting. Beginning with a 4,000-word introduction that puts the subject in historical context, curator Bob Nickas introduces the reader to the key issues in contemporary abstraction. He then profiles the 80 most vital contemporary painters in six chapters. Each artist's work is illustrated in lavish full-colour images and accompanied by a text that leads the reader through the paintings in language that is both accessible and illuminating. The product of extensive new research and hundreds of studio visits with artists around the world, Nickas' text brings out the key details and distinctions in their work, creating a vivid picture of a field awash in creative innovation. "Painting Abstraction" is an essential reference tool for curators, critics, artists and collectors, and a major statement on the future of painting from one of contemporary art's most respected curators.

Table of Contents

Introduction: The Persistence of Abstraction Chapter 1: Hybrid Pictures (Kristin Baker, Lisa Beck, Alex Brown, Jules de Balincourt, Tomory Dodge, Jacob Feige, Chris Finley, Wayne Gonzalez, Alex Hay, Carrie Moyer, Elizabeth Neel, David Ratcliff, Wilhelm Sasnal, Chris Vassell) Chapter 2: Rhythm and Opticality (Karin Davie, Philippe Decrauzat, Xylor Jane, David Malek, Anja Schwoerer, James Siena, Esther Stocker, Philip Taaffe, John Tremblay, Dan Walsh, Chuck Webster) Chapter 3: Colour and Structure (Mike Cloud, Joanne Greenbaum, Mary Heilmann, Daniel Hesidence, Alison Miller, Odili Donald Odita, Ann Pibal, Bernd Ribbeck, Ruth Root, Alan Uglow, Stanley Whitney, Jens Wolf) Chapter 4: Found/Eccentric Abstraction (John Armleder, Richard Aldrich, Monika Baer, Agnieszka Brzezanska, Francis Baudevin, Daan Van Golden, Chris Johanson, Tony Just, Marta Marce, Monique Prieto, Alex Ross, Amy Sillman) Chapter 5: Form, Space and Scale (Tomma Abts, Varda Caivano, Kim Fischer, Katharina Grosse, Bill Komoski, Alex Kwartler, Chris Martin, Julie Mehretu, Katy Moran, Olivier Mosset, Steven Parrino, Peter Peri, Thomas Scheibitz, Clare Woods) Chapter 6: The Act of Painting (Bernard Frize, Wade Guyton, Jacqueline Humphries, Nathan Hylden, Charline von Heyl, Jutta Koether, Michael Krebber, Anselm Reyle, Josh Smith, Rudolf Stingel, Kelley Walker, Christopher Wool, Heimo Zobernig)

About the Author

Bob Nickas is a critic and curator based in New York. He has organized more than eighty exhibitions since 1984 and served on the teams responsible for Aperto at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and the 2003 Biennale de Lyon. From 2003-06 he was Curatorial Advisor at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York. The author of numerous essays in catalogues and monographs, he is a regular contributor to Artforum and founding editor of Index magazine. His books include two collections of his writing, Live Free or Die (2000) and Theft is Vision (2007).

Reviews

"Lively survey?a useful tool in forming a sharper, broader sense of what is going on in the world of abstract painting."
-Roberta Smith, "The New York Times"

"Pictorially jazzy work?the visual energy and variety of these reproductions burst all pigeonholes. It's a wild ride of a reference book."
-"San Francisco Chronicle"