THE FUTURE OF ABSTRACT PAINTING.

I recently looked at some new work of a very gifted artist who has been part of the Midwest Artists Group. It brought up new issues which have been around, and which need to be addressed. Some of them are, how does one learn to paint abstractly after a good cubist education, and the influence of AE?  I understand that the letter is being circulated some, so I will wait to continue with the topic.

I am of the opinion, though, that it is not possible to paint abstractly without a new understanding of the character of subject matter, metaphoric implications of form and composition, and most important taking on new responsibilities as an artist.  By definition, there is no continuation possible for AE. Each one of the original first generation patented  not only an image but a pictorial process through which to obtain the image. Fitting in the spaces between patented images, and/ or continuing with the processes developed by the AE painters results in second or third rate "family" work, and cannot  aspire to even a small percentage of the originality and seriousness present in the work of the best AE artists.

I don't think that most  of the abstract work produced between the wars has any greater possibility of continuation, either. Burgoyne Diller, was a sort of miracle worker.  He managed to infuse Mondrian's choices with a new intensity that makes his late work very much his own.  I believe that no other neoplastic painter of Diller's generation or later has been able to do this. So, how does one proceed as an abstract painter, into the future, without AE, or between the wars abstraction [at least, most of it]? And where are our models ?  And what are we trying to accomplish.  Is there something abstraction can do better than figuration? What is it?  Why do we need it?

Love,
Gabriel