I wouldn't say painting is dead, nor is it irrelevant - it's just that the
field has expanded a great deal into other media since the huge shock value of
the Salon Refusee and the Armory Show of 1913. Shock value seems to have
transferred itself to installations, assemblage, digital work and
photography. And, of course - Art & Politics - always reflective of the
times, seems to be reflected more in the latter mediums.
Speaking of Art & Politics - wonder what we can expect from the next 4 years?
" In 1555, Nostradamus wrote:
Come the millennium, month 12,
In the home of greatest power,
The village idiot will come forth
To be acclaimed the leader."
But I digress. I've just been reading the venerable "Art Forum" (can't find
much else out there) and a review of "Glee: Painting Now" a traveling show
now at the Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art. To excerpt part of the review:
" 'Glee?' Only in the wake of 13,000-plus stock market averages would such a
title be imaginable. Optimism, confidence, and fun are the watchwords here,
and the curators, Amy Cappellazzo (of the Palm Beach Institute of Contemporary
Art, where the exhibition will travel next) and the Aldrich's Jessica Hough,
are pretty open about the fact that these twenty artists 'skirt weighty
subject matter of politicized content.' the show is premised on the idea tht
painting exists with more conviction now that it has been forced to shed some
of its worn conventions and historical baggage in order to survive alongside
new digital technologies. Might as well call the show "Easy."
Certainly, painting is alive and well and there are those who stir
controversy, but most of what I see would be considered "decorative" and
that's not necessarily a pan.
Looking through the Artforum reviews, I find the following subject matter:
installation, painting, installation, photography, design, video, video, video
about painting, installation, installation, painting, installation, painting,
photography, video, work on paper, painting, sculpture paintings and drawings,
paintings, relief, painting, painting, photography, painting, photography,
sculpture, painting, installation, installation, video, painting, assemblage
(I think), installation, painting, video
(God, I'm exhausted!!!) Anyway, according to Artforum percentages, if they
are any guide, it would appear painting is alive!! Metaphorically speaking, I
think it's making its own....metaphors.
PK
"A free spirit takes liberties even with liberty itself."
Francis Picabia
Aaron Kimberly wrote:
> Hi Everyone,
>
> I'd enjoy hearing your comments about painting. I recall seeing a set of
> paintings at the Whitney over a year ago of "Divas". The commentary called
> into question whether painting is still a living language or
> historical/sentimental like 'opera'. Perhaps Baudelaire would agree that
> painting is no longer the ideal vehicle for engaged metaphors of modern
> life. Yet, there remains the compulsion to paint. Do we risk irrelivance?
> What do you think?
