Contributed by Leslie Roberts / The exhibition “Abstract by Definition” at Art Cake celebrates the 90th anniversary of the American Abstract Artists (AAA). The show is subtitled “An Index,” but is not one in the usual sense – not, that is, an itemized set of categories, styles, intentions, or formal languages defining abstract art. Curator Saul Ostrow has instead organized groups of several works – usually four. This installation effectively highlights the particular qualities of each piece, and emphasizes the diversity of what we call contemporary abstraction.
Art Cake is a vast, high-ceilinged place, and the setup allows generous lengths of wall space between the clusters of work. Each arrangement is a discrete encounter on which it is easy to concentrate. One artist observed that it is almost like a series of small shows. Ostrow carefully avoids the superficial tidiness of groups sorted according to, say, grids, gestural marks, or organic form. He also spares us the cognitive overload of salon-style hanging and the monotony of lining everything up in a single long row.
Looking at small groups is different from viewing pairs. Looking at just two pieces side by side, a viewer can usually identify a way they are linked – say, by palette, stacked shapes, or stripes – and feel like they get it. It is natural, of course, to want to get it, yet the feeling that we fully understand what we see can sometimes stop us from looking further. “Oh, an early Cezanne.” And on to the next thing. At Art Cake, though, the viewer is likely to pause as they look around at the constellation of works in a given group. Common elements of any two or three are easy to find, but any obvious defining factor for a whole group is elusive. Three have yellow triangles, but wait, the fourth one does not, so you continue to look. Up, down, left, right, clockwise and counterclockwise.
The connections among works are certainly rewarding to find. It is lovely, for instance, to see Alex Paik’s folded work of 2024 hanging next to a folded work by Dorothea Rockburne made in 1973, more than 50 years earlier. The longer you look, the more commonalities you’ll notice. But you won’t find a simple rationale for any particular group.
The configurations are full of contrasts. Some include works in four different media. The show overall embraces oil paint, acrylic, paper, wood, and marble, as well as animation, fluorescent cathodes, polymer clay, blown glass, photography, Plexiglas, felt, aluminum, and cardboard. There are a few groups of four rectangles, but not many; more often the works vary in shape and form. They vary still more in their processes, compositional structures, and intentions.
In the context of other artworks, it is easier to see each separate work. That seems fitting. Historically, the AAA has stood for and encouraged community and has never mandated any aesthetic doctrine or creed. In turn, the exhibition presents as a collection of disparate and idiosyncratic artworks that complement one another. Ostrow’s essay explains that his intention is to create internal dialogue – questions rather than answers – and not to provide definitions. The installation makes clear that identifying work as “abstract” opens up more than it closes off. It is designed to invite long looking, and it succeeds.
“Abstract by Definition: An Index,” Art Cake, 214 40th Street, Brooklyn, NY. Through May 30, 2026. On May 9, the gallery held a pane discussion with Brooklyn Rail contributor, Tom McGlynn, art editor at large at BOMB Magazine Saul Ostrow, and painter and publisher of Two Coats of Paint Sharon Butler. A video of the conversation is available shortly on the American Abstract Artists’ YouTube Channel. On the final day of the show, there will be a members panel discussion and the exhibition catalog will be released, May 30, 4-5:30 pm at Art Cake.
About the author: Leslie Roberts is a Brooklyn-based artist and professor emerita at Pratt Institute. Recent shows were at Studio Light | Space in Tucson and 57W57Arts in New York City. Note: Roberts is a member of AAA and has work in the show.
