Ruth Root's Abstract Pop Paintings at Andrew Kreps Gallery Challenge Historical Divisions

Ruth Root's exhibition at Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York City, running from February 7 to March 16, presents abstract paintings that blend pop art aesthetics with non-figurative abstraction. Root, who emerged in the 1990s, creates sleek, glossy enamel works using high-pitched artificial colors like pink, orange, and violet, evoking urban designer shades rather than natural ones. Her six horizontal and two vertical paintings feature smooth, reflective surfaces with straight edges and gentle curves, avoiding traditional landscape or portrait references. Root's approach rejects historical anxieties about abstract art's decorative nature, as seen in 1960s debates exemplified by Michael Fried's concerns over Frank Stella's work. She draws inspiration from diverse sources, including Paul Feeley, Peter Saul, Richard Tuttle, Gordon Matta-Clark, and elements from The Umbrellas of Cherbourg and ski socks, highlighting her generation's disregard for old distinctions between figurative and abstract art. The exhibition underscores how abstract painting has moved beyond mid-20th-century tensions, with Root's cheerful, decorative works asserting self-sufficient validity without political or historical constraints.