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Extreme Abstraction. (See previous post.) Actually Linda Besemer, one of the artists in the Albright-Knox's show of that name, isn't extreme. Why is she extreme--because she's anal-retentive and makes hundreds of super thin stripes? Why does the art world insist on obsessive repetitive complexity as a rite of passage? And Katharina Grosse--she's extreme because she paints on the walls? Why is covering a lot of wall surface area a rite of passage? And David Reed--why is he extreme? Because he's so polished and professional? My favorite piece of his is probably the video where he (poorly) digitally inserted one of his paintings into the background of the Michael Mann-produced '80s TV series Crime Story. Dennis Farina and some other guy are arguing and the whole time there's this jerking, shimmering abstract painting on the wall behind them. It wasn't extreme, but it was a good piece.
