Catherine Millet on Barnett Newman, Martin Barré, and the Ambition of Abstraction

In an editorial for art press, Catherine Millet reflects on the ambition of abstract painting, using Barnett Newman's iconic self-portrait in front of his color field as a starting point. She contrasts Newman's and Martin Barré's gestural abstraction with later formalist reductions and parodies, such as Philip Taaffe's twisted zip motifs. Millet notes that the homage to Martin Barré at Galerie Nathalie Obadia, while meritorious, partly falls into this trap, with some juxtaposed works appearing heavy-handed. She draws a parallel to Bruno Dumont's films, particularly "Twentynine Palms" and "Flandres," where desert and plain landscapes approach abstraction while characters retain physical and emotional weight. Millet laments that truly ambitious abstract painting is rare today, while figurative painting often lacks formal invention, and video installations frequently succumb to gratuitous aestheticism. She cites the Zidane portrait by Douglas Gordon and Philippe Parreno as a possible exception. The editorial ultimately celebrates finding contemporary artists who match the ambition of Newman, Rothko, and Barré, regardless of medium.