Conceptual Abstraction

Conceptual Abstraction was the title of a landmark exhibition held at the Sidney Janis Gallery in New York in 1991. Abstract art was then out of fashion, and the news that a blue-chip gallery like Janis was doing a show of new abstract painting stirred up excitement in the art world, inspiring competing surveys and a raft of articles by artists and critics. More than 20 years later, the Hunter College Art Galleries are presenting a new iteration of the show, reuniting the original group of painters: Ross Bleckner, David Diao, Lydia Dona, Christian Eckart, Stephen Ellis, Peter Halley, Mary Heilmann, Valerie Jaudon, Richard Kalina, Shirley Kaneda, Bill Komoski, Jonathan Lasker, Sherrie Levine, Thomas Nozkowski, David Reed, David Row, Peter Schuyff, Philip Taaffe, Stephen Westfall and John Zinsser. This volume includes a facsimile of the 1991 catalogue with its introduction by Carroll Janis and statements by the artists.