Interesting choice of words. What is intriguing about many abstract impressionists is an ability to translate rather faithfully an emotional instability (or perhaps less derogatory, an ever-changing emotional state) into an ever-changing or unstable visual image. Perhaps it is the very mutability of the final image that separates the good from the bad in abstractions.
True enough. The problem is, that's all they can do, and emotional instability is pretty boring as a steady diet. Someone -- I forget who -- once said that atonal music is very expressive; unfortunately, the only thing it can express is anxiety. Abstract painting is similar: we got your rage, fear, depression, anxiety, nightmares. As an antidote to Victorian sentimentality, I suppose it deserved its hour on the stage. But modernism (and even post-modernism) is getting pretty long in the tooth.