Word.ws English Dictionary

zombie formalism

zombie formalism noun: a form of abstract expressionism that gained popularity in the 2010s, seen as overly commercial and devoid of artistic innovation.

Noun (1)

zombie formalism (uncountable)

  1. (derogatory, painting) A form of abstract expressionism that gained popularity in the 2010s, seen as overly commercial and devoid of artistic innovation.
    • One thing I’m hearing these days, loud and clear, is the hum of an art style that I like to call Zombie Formalism. “Formalism” because this art involves a straightforward, reductive, essentialist method of making a painting (yes, I admit it, I’m hung up on painting), and “Zombie” because it brings...2014 April 3, Walter Robinson, “Flipping and the Rise of Zombie Formalism”, in Artspace, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2015
    • In his latest solo, Matt Connors strides right into the debate surrounding “zombie formalism,” or the reflexive rehashing of past modes of abstract painting.2014 May 15, Karen Rosenberg, “Matt Connors: ‘Machines’”, in The New York Times, →ISSN

Noun (2) capitalized: Zombie Formalism

Zombie Formalism (uncountable)

  1. Alternative letter-case form of zombie formalism

Examples of zombie formalism in a sentence

  • One thing I’m hearing these days, loud and clear, is the hum of an art style that I like to call Zombie Formalism.2014 April 3, Walter Robinson, “Flipping and the Rise of Zombie Formalism”, in Artspace, archived from the original on 02 Oct 2015:
  • Most Zombie Formalism arrives in a vertical format, tailor-made for instant digital distribution and viewing via jpeg on portable devices.2014 June 17, Jerry Saltz, “Zombies on the Walls: Why Does So Much New Abstraction Look the Same?”, in New York Magazine:
  • Imhof’s main efforts are shiny acrylic monochromes (black, white or turquoise) on aluminum with impulsive flurries of scratches — variants of zombie formalism that imply vandalism.2017 October 11, Holland Cotter, Roberta Smith, Will Heinrich, Jason Farago, “What to See in New York Art Galleries This Week”, in The New...
  • So-called zombie formalism—rehashed abstract expressionism optimized for Instagram shareability—became a fad.2025 May 5, Spencer Kornhaber, “Is This the Worst-Ever Era of American Pop Culture?”, in The Atlantic, →ISSN:

Forms of zombie formalism

alternative formZombie Formalism

Origin of zombie formalism

Coined by American painter and art critic Walter Robinson in 2014, see quotations.

Questions about zombie formalism

What does zombie formalism mean?
Zombie formalism means a form of abstract expressionism that gained popularity in the 2010s, seen as overly commercial and devoid of artistic innovation.
How do you use zombie formalism in a sentence?
One thing I’m hearing these days, loud and clear, is the hum of an art style that I like to call Zombie Formalism.
What part of speech is zombie formalism?
Zombie formalism is a noun.

Words near zombie formalism in the dictionary

  1. zombie effects
  2. zombie finger
  3. zombie fingers
  4. zombie fire
  5. zombie fires
  6. zombie formalism
  7. zombie fungi
  8. zombie fungus
  9. zombie government
  10. zombie governments
  11. zombie host

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: zombie formalism (page history and authors); Zombie Formalism (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Cite this entry: “zombie formalism.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/zombie_formalism. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.