The New York School of abstract expressionists—Pollock, de Kooning, Kline, et al.—rose to prominence by stripping away the fluff, flab, and frustrations of reality to reveal philosophical truth and pure sensations in non-representational paint. By contrast, the most compelling practitioners of abstraction today are finding their inspiration in abject and mundane aspects of reality. The six artists in "Substraction," currently up at New York's Deitch Projects gallery, create abstract art about strip malls and other down-and-dirty subject matter. Dan Colen first garnered art-world attention with careful Disney-like paintings containing crude catchphrases, but he's now best known for canvases and papier-mâché sculpture covered in painted bird droppings. Kristin Baker's booming canvases of race-car bust-ups are full of frenzied color and aggressive forms. And the swirling forms in Aaron Young's installation art were achieved by inviting motorcycle gangs to burn through layers of paint with their screaming tires. Using a consistent, streamlined visual language, the artists in "Substraction" are creating a new New York school that pays homage to the grimy, swaggering spirit of the city.