AFTER SEVERAL YEARS of figurative painting’s domination of the contemporary-art scene, some of the freshest-looking canvases hanging in galleries and art fairs in recent months have been abstractions. Often encrusted in thick layers, many of these works are dense topographies weighing hundreds of kilograms that push right up to the edge of sculpture. All revel in the nature of paint itself.
Boding well for its staying power, this new abstraction is emanating from the studios of artists young and old, male and female, around the, a classic mural technique of scraping away paint. But together they signal that collectors would be wise to clear some wall space.
