Painting

Whitechapel: Documents of Contemporary Art

by Terry R. Myers (Editor)

Essential writings that consider the diverse meanings of contemporary painting since its postconceptual revival. The “death of painting” and its subsequent resurrection in transformed conditions is a leitmotif of the modern era. Painting's postconceptual resurgence at the start of the 1980s began a dramatic expansion of its field. If painting remains important today, it is because its contradictions have been acknowledged as artists have radically diversified the components of its production and presentation. This first anthology to focus on painting's multiple discourses over the last three decades brings together key statements, dialogues, and debates that have moved the conversation beyond the modern/postmodern dialectic while redefining the conditions necessary for an artwork to be described as “painting.” The diversity of contemporary painting's meanings and practices encompasses the randomness and eclecticism associated with Web-based creation. Although for many the presence of paint endures, others have argued for painting to be classed not as a material but as a philosophical category. Compiled by a leading critic of painting who actively participated in these conversations while also teaching young artists in the studio classroom, this collection ranges widely, to reflect the diversity of ways in which painting continues to be investigated and evaluated in studios, exhibition spaces, and the marketplace of ideas. These writings, statements, and interviews reflect ongoing debates and reignite questions for an as yet unimagined future of painting.

Genres: Art, Nonfiction, Theory, Art History

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 31, 2011

Reviews

[Amalie]

If one does not have the words to describe a problem how can one get help solving it? that is why I read about painting to enlarge my thinking.
So far -first essay- its mostly been comments from a fashion editor, which is not that exciting. That and proving that painting is in fact not dead. Which is a rather contrite conversation, im with Milan Kundera on this one, nothing dies with fanfare, when/if painting goes it will be quietly, and I dare to say if it goes it might be because we have found better ways of expressing ourselves.
The Deleuze part is really lovely, makes me want to read the whole book on Francis Bacon.

[Charlotte Booth]

I am struggling with this book. It is on my reading list for my Fine Art degree so I have been trying to slog through it.

However, the writing style of the authors of the essays in the first 50 pages is so turgid and waffling that I have given up.

[Desollado]

it is interesting because it shows the evolution from conceptualism back to painting .

[Barry]

A terrific anthology that includes my 1989 essay on the work of Marilyn Minter.

[Hooper]

Don't waste your time on this collection of dubious quality that lacks depth and context.

[Theresa Anderson]

Nice chronological compilation of writing about painting.

[Mills College Library]

759.06 P1486 2011