MIAMI, FLA.- “This exhibition expands on narrow definitions of American art,” said Dr. Jordana Pomeroy, the Director of the Frost Art Museum FIU. “For too long, the narrative of American abstraction has been limited in scope. This show reassesses what it means to be an abstract artist living and working in the United States.”

During the 20th century, many American abstract artists challenged traditional methods of art-making, using a palette knife instead of a paintbrush, soaking their canvases in diluted paint, and other ways of “cutting” that transformed their two-dimensional abstract paintings into three-dimensional works. For some of these artists, their “cuts” were seen as incisively political. For others, the new ways they pierced their canvases or cut the paint itself were investigations into the very materials they used.

The American abstract icon Jack Whitten once stated: “I cut paint, I laminate paint, I grind paint, I freeze paint, I boil paint.”

CUT also explores the important role that abstraction played in positioning American art onto the international arena, expanding traditional perceptions of American art since the mid-20th century and how the work of these artists changed perceptions.

By presenting different generations of artists alongside each other, CUT demonstrates how these artists executed a striking array of methods to manipulate their work, through the 1970s, the 80s, 90s and today (some are creating new works for CUT).

CUT features work by canonical artists such as Al Loving, Elizabeth Murray, Sam Gilliam, Jack Whitten and Ed Clark. The roster of younger generation artists in CUT includes Nanette Carter, Roberto Jamora, Loriel Beltran, and Clara Varas. Other artists in the exhibition are Jacin Giordano, Jeffrey Gibson, Mark Bradford, Charo Oquet, Howardena Pindell, Maria de los Angeles Rodriguez Jimenez, and Angel Otero.

Highlights: the museum’s new acquisition by Elizabeth Murray will debut here (donated from the collection of Francie Bishop Good & David Horvitz). The monumental work by Mark Bradford is on loan from Art Bridges and was featured in the artist’s 2017 presentation at the Venice Biennale.