“We’re not going to get rid of chaos and complexity,” Al Held famously said, “but we can find a way to live with them.” Held’s way to live with chaos and complexity was to paint them—in razor-sharp geometric shapes. His “concrete abstractions” were developed to break free of the flatness he perceived in Abstract Expressionism. Squares and circles in vibrant colors allude to depth where depth is impossible. Held’s floating distortions imbue his work with magic, like fairy dust. —E.C.