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The narrative of abstraction in western painting is one of linear progression. We are taught that abstraction unfolded neatly: from Braque’s pixelated landscapes via Kandinsky’s colour explosions to Mondrian’s grids, we arrived at abstraction proper. But if total abstraction was achieved with Malevich’s Black Square in 1915, how then does painting continue along this linear trajectory more than 100 years later? For three Berlin-based contemporary artists Katharina Grosse, Bernard Frize, and Imi Knoebel, the answer lies in subverting progress itself. Detours brings together works by these …