'An admirably clear writer, a good editor of his own texts, Schwabsky provides an engaging perspective on our era which, as he presents it, is in itself not uninteresting.' Burlington Magazine

• Part I. Abstraction, Representation …: 1. The widening circle: abstraction and representation in contemporary art and criticism; 2. 'The real situation': Philip Guston and Mark Rothko at the end of the 1960s; 3. Norman Bluhm and the eternal feminine; 4. Color field and Caro: mannerist modernism; 5. Larry Poons: formalism in ruins; 6. Gesture revisited: Mel Bochner, Howard Buchwald, Brice Marden; 7. Mary Heilmann's ceramics and paintings: color as substance; 8. Porfirio DiDonna: vision fulfilled; 9. Moira Dryer: answering machines; 10. The rustle of painting: Jacques Lacan, David Row, Brenda Zlamany; Part II. Italian Interlude: 11. W. de Pisis; 12. Rotellascope; 13. Michelangelo Pistoletto: mirrors to monuments; 14. The abstraction epidemic: a conversation with Demetrio Paparoni; Part III ... and Inscription: 15. Thomas Chimes: concerning the surface; 16. Cy Twombly: Et in Arcadia Ego?; 17. Bruce Conner's inkblot drawings: documents for a secret tradition; 18. Reverse continuity: the prints of Mel Bochner; 19. Rubble: representing Mel Bochner's early work; 20. Ross Bleckner: memories of light; 21. L. C. Armstrong: written on the skin; 22. Rainer Ganahl: windows on the word.

'An admirably clear writer, a good editor of his own texts, Schwabsky provides an engaging perspective on our era which, as he presents it, is in itself not uninteresting.' Burlington Magazine

• Part I. Abstraction, Representation …: 1. The widening circle: abstraction and representation in contemporary art and criticism; 2. 'The real situation': Philip Guston and Mark Rothko at the end of the 1960s; 3. Norman Bluhm and the eternal feminine; 4. Color field and Caro: mannerist modernism; 5. Larry Poons: formalism in ruins; 6. Gesture revisited: Mel Bochner, Howard Buchwald, Brice Marden; 7. Mary Heilmann's ceramics and paintings: color as substance; 8. Porfirio DiDonna: vision fulfilled; 9. Moira Dryer: answering machines; 10. The rustle of painting: Jacques Lacan, David Row, Brenda Zlamany; Part II. Italian Interlude: 11. W. de Pisis; 12. Rotellascope; 13. Michelangelo Pistoletto: mirrors to monuments; 14. The abstraction epidemic: a conversation with Demetrio Paparoni; Part III ... and Inscription: 15. Thomas Chimes: concerning the surface; 16. Cy Twombly: Et in Arcadia Ego?; 17. Bruce Conner's inkblot drawings: documents for a secret tradition; 18. Reverse continuity: the prints of Mel Bochner; 19. Rubble: representing Mel Bochner's early work; 20. Ross Bleckner: memories of light; 21. L. C. Armstrong: written on the skin; 22. Rainer Ganahl: windows on the word.