In 2006, I interviewed Stephen Westfall about his longtime interest in the possibilities of a skewed grid, among other subjects. The relationship of vulnerability with planar abstraction and the culture of signs and symbols came to mind when I visited Westfall’s current exhibition, Ornithology, at Alexandre Gallery. Stephen Westfall, “JuJu (for Wayne Shorter)” (2025), oil and alkyd on canvasWestfall has spent his career working within the geometric abstraction genre while trying to disrupt the rhythmic patterns associated with planar abstraction and Op Art. “JuJu (for Wayne Shorter)” is divided into a grid of nine irregular rectangles on a square canvas, each one further divided diagonally into two triangles. Stephen Westfall, “The Tall Grass” (2025), oil and alkyd on canvasStephen Westfall: Ornithology continues at Alexandre Gallery (25 East 73rd Street, Second and Third Floors, Upper East Side, Manhattan) through October 25.