He builds layered surfaces with latex house paint mixed with spackle and water.

"Because it's a nuanced, layered surface," Ms. Spivack said, "the wall has depth and is never static."

When illuminated, the layered surfaces of the rosettes - at two and a half inches in diameter each, the show's largest objects - seem thick with petals.

But they also make high-art connections: the allover and actively layered surfaces alluding to Abstract Expressionism, the grids evoking the rigorous formalism of geometric abstraction.

And so do many of the abstract painters whose textured, layered surfaces find precedents in some of the painted wood reliefs that are on view here.

The abstractions, each about six and a half feet tall, were made by Mr. Richter's signature method of squeegeeing abundant quantities of paint to create smeary, layered surfaces.

Mining stream-of-consciousness subjective thoughts, Edvard Lieber's gentle, collages entice the eye to explore lettering and diaristic and abstract photographs occurring throughout the layered surfaces.

The rich, layered surfaces were livelier than those on the enameled images that were also popular in the period.

This print, which is only the right panel of a triptych, has the appearance of a finely woven tapestry with its layered surface.

The faceted planes of her body and richly layered surface of brushstrokes impart a monumental and sculptural quality to this portrait.