The pace of daily life has sped up. Today our culture has evolved (or devolved) to the point that we no longer need be present physically or emotionally to access information. The World Wide Web and wireless devices make information readily and easily accessible. Painted abstraction offers a means of accessing the self for both the creator and the viewer through the mind-body connection it enacts in making and viewing, as well as the latent response abstract imagery invokes in interacting with and creating a finished piece. Abstraction is latent because it is neither here nor there, and as imagery it rests in the in between. In contrast to how we normally receive and process information, abstraction slows the response, and blurs the line between what is literal and what is internal: memories, dreams, thoughts and feelings. These responses are subjective, for a shape a color or a gesture all have the ability to provoke reminiscences, ideas and emotions. However, whatever these responses may be, they will come only from one who has slowed their pace to reflect, and be present in the moment of interaction between themselves and the work. Latency in Painted Abstraction As a Means of Reaccessing the Self is informed by research of the history of abstraction, the context in which a number of contemporary abstract painters are working today, and the psychic/spiritual impact abstraction has on viewers today.