Action/Abstraction Redefined, features paintings and works on paper from MoCNA’s permanent collection created in the 1960s and 1970s. These artists challenged stereotypical expectations of Indian art through experimenting with American modern art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, combined with art influences from their own cultural heritage. These artworks represent individual leaps of experimentation.

Works on view in the Hallway Gallery share an interest in movement, mark-making, and frenetic energy, even though many were created using printmaking processes. Action/Abstraction Redefined includes etchings, woodcuts, and collagraph processes. Several of the drawings are characterized by large fields of pure colors, similar to Color Field painting. Others explore biomorphic shapes inspired by nature or reflecting the artists’ emotions or experiences.