John Yau reviews the exhibition Tom Burckhardt: Pretty Little Liars at Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, on view through November 24, 2012.

Yau writes: "At his best, Burckhardt is able embrace both the abstract and the representational is such that we must read the paintings in different, often contradictory ways without ever reaching a conclusion…. By establishing contradictory possibilities, Burckhardt echoes both his love of, and disbelief in, painting. He refuses to be either nostalgic or cynical."