Painting is relevant and abstraction within that context need not be isolated as the divide between abstraction and figuration is a false dichotomy. Abstraction feels liberating and challenging. Amongst the many reasons why abstraction has been sidelined is the present cultish, fashionable art institutionally authoritarian tendency to imply utility on art with concurrent and dependent socio-political narratives, abstraction with very different concerns is bound to be imperilled within this system. With abstraction It's a case of carry on regardless.