Sharon Butler blogs about two New York exhibitions: Tomma Abts at David Zwirner (through October 25) and Helen Appel at James Cohan (through October 4).

Butler writes that both shows "certainly make a case that focus and exactitude are still meaningful approaches… [Abts] has begun to introduce ruptures, such as a diptych format and a cut corner, into the picture plane. Her work requires careful scrutiny to apprehend the process, which begins with thin layers of scruffy acrylic washes… Appel–in contrast to Abts–is focused on the world around her, using traditional trompe l’oeil technique to depict fabric, sheets of transparent plastic, hand sewing, match sticks, floor grit, slabs of meat, and other objects from everyday life."