Extreme Abstraction was a major exhibition surveying of the history and future of abstraction that spanned the three buildings of the Albright-Knox and extended onto its outdoor campus in the summer and fall of 2005. 

The exhibition, organized by former director Louis Grachos and former associate curator Claire Schneider, was on view from July 15 to October 2, 2005. Site-specific works and commissioned pieces by contemporary artists were juxtaposed with seminal works from the museum’s collection and recent acquisitions in a visual trajectory of abstraction in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Allowing contemporary artists to revisit the museum’s history and filter it through their own perspectives, this intermingling of historical art in relation to contemporary trends emphasized the museum’s ongoing support of artists working in abstraction in all of its varied forms, from emotive and highly gestural expressions, to cool and crisp architectonic explorations of design and structure.