Sharon Butler looks at two shows of geometric abstraction to start the new year: Halsey Hathaway and Gary Peterson, and Rob de Oude at Storefront in Bushwick, Brooklyn, NY, on view through February 5, 2012 and In Line/Out of Line at Heiner Contemporary, Washington, DC., on view through January 14, 2012.

Butler observes two trends: "In geometric abstraction… it seem as though the brushstrokes are either masked and tightly drawn, or loose and drippy…"