John Yau reviews Aspects of Abstraction at Lisson Gallery, New York, on view through August 11, 2017. The show features works by Leon Polk Smith, Paul Feeley, Joanna Pousette-Dart, and Marina Adams.

Yau writes: “The exhibition’s circumspect title makes no grand or inclusive claim. It brings together four diverse artists from different generations who share similar tendencies… Frankly, I think putting together works by these four artists was a stroke of genius. One gets tired of seeing the same combinations repeatedly … The other thing about this exhibition: there is joy in the work. For some, it might appear unseemly to express any kind of joy at this moment in American history, but not  for me. It is a joy that can only be found in art, and makes no claims to be  about more than that. That’s not fake news.”