Xstraction at The Hole

Thomas Micchelli reviews Xstraction at The Hole, New York. The exhibition features work by 32 contemporary abstract painters.

Michelli writes that "there are only a few paintings here that are startling in their originality, but despite their sheen of newness, their relationship to antecedents is very much in evidence. This is not a criticism; to the contrary, it’s a major factor in the richness of their aura (a word I use advisedly). The rest of the works in the show appear to be earnestly made, but their conversion of past practices (abjection and process are especially pervasive) for the here and now do not register as particularly imperative."