In 2014, the art critic and painter Walter Robinson coined the term “zombie formalism” to describe it. Zombie formalism was abstract expressionism shorn of its emotion and grandeur, with canvases of mushy brushstrokes or cold monochromes from the likes of Oscar Murillo and Jacob Kassay. The critic Jerry Saltz echoed that it was “look-alike art.” Their tendency toward the meaninglessly decorative led the way to a slew of painters depicting glossy surrealist scenes, like Emily Mae Smith’s paintings of anthropomorphized broomsticks. (Dean Kissick labeled it “zombie figuration.”)
