The Painting Factory ─ Abstraction After Warhol

The first large-scale exhibition exploring contemporary abstract painting. In a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, director Jeffrey Deitch considers the reemergence of abstract painting among a broad range of artists whose work is as diverse conceptually as it is aesthetically. Looking back to Andy Warhol’s seminal Shadow, Oxidation, and Rorschach paintings as among the many touchstones that underwrite the contemporary impulse to abstraction, the show features artists such as Julie Mehretu, whose large-scale works densely layer maplike markings; Josh Smith, whose lush canvases often explore a single theme repeatedly, such as his signature; and Tauba Auerbach, whose highly formal explorations of materials challenge conventional modes of perception. Additional artists include Rudolf Stingel, Christopher Wool, Glenn Ligon, Urs Fischer, Mark Bradford, Wade Guyton, Kelley Walker, Seth Price, Kerstin Bratsch and Adele Roder, and Sterling Ruby. The exhibition catalogue features a roundtable discussion between Jeffrey Deitch, art historian Johanna Burton, and curators James Meyer and Scott Rothkopf.

Jeffrey Deitch is the director of the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles. Prior to becoming director of MOCA, he operated the gallery Deitch Projects. New York–based art historian and critic Johanna Burton is the director of the graduate program at the Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. James Meyer is an associate curator of modern and contemporary art at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. Scott Rothkopf is a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.