Concept Abstraction

“What effect has digital technology had on contemporary painting? Mark Godfrey, curator of international art at Tate Modern, discusses a new display of paintings from the last ten years exploring how artists negotiate the world of iPads, scanners and smartphones.”

Abstract Mannerism and all of its permutations has been going on for a long time. And in the 21st Century artists began to connect painting processes to electronic programming. Many of the older artists saw the reproduction and manufacturing potential in this new kind of imagery making tool. The younger artists have naturally followed suit. 

Painters have not only appropriated new technologies and software as studio tools but also addressed how these media might make us appreciate the real layers of materials on a painting rather than a digital image… In these conditions many artists are also interested in working either within or against the established traditions of abstraction. Abstract Expressionism was often associated with the heroic male painter, each gestural brush-stroke supposedly a trace of his emotions. But how might abstract painting be pursued when this narrative is distrusted, and the gesture, through the use of technology or otherwise, can be faked or non-assignable? Tate Modern, June 8, 2015.