The exhibition defines Pop Abstraction as neither a style nor a movement, but rather a shared sensibility among generations of artists beginning in the 1960s. Artists in the exhibition embraced the visual language of Pop—bold, processed color and graphic cartoon-like iconography—without any nostalgia or consumer critique. Pop Abstraction revels in the inherently abstract nature of cartoons, comics, and advertising; however, its content remains personal and idiosyncratic. Whereas the artists in this exhibition have been aligned with various movements—Color Field, Pop, and Post-Minimalism—they often stand on the periphery. In many ways, this group of artists represents a kind of “unofficial school” of painters: influential, beloved by other artists, and willfully uncategorizable.

Examples from the exhibition include:
– Alfred Jensen, The Reciprocal Relation of Unity 20–40–60–80 Form the Beginning of the Vigesimal System, 1969, oil on canvas — a paradigmatic fusion of mysticism, mathematics, and high-key Pop color.
– John Wesley, Sleep, 1971, acrylic on canvas — an emblematic work that exemplifies Wesley’s distilled cartoon figuration and psychologically charged use of flat color.

Pop Abstraction is on view at Fredericks & Freiser (536 West 24th Street) and Garth Greenan Gallery (529 West 20th Street). For more information, please contact Andrew Freiser at (212) 633-6555 or email info@fredericksfreisergallery.com; Garth Greenan at (212) 929-1351 or email garth@garthgreenan.com, or visit www.fredericksfreisergallery.com.