Host: John Boyland


"This conversation is about painting. The title focuses on something I've been curious about, how painting persists in a time of digital image overload. But as usual, this is your conversation, and I'm expecting that we will go beyond that narrow frame into looking at the state of painting now. We'll have two painters among the featured guests. In keeping with the tradition of this series, however, I'm hoping that we have a number of others in attendance to talk about what drives them to that ancient passion for covering stretches of cloth or wood with oily pigments."

Guests
Drake Deknatel, Painter
Elizabeth Brown, Chief Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections for the Henry Art Gallery at the University of Washington
Billy Howard, Art Dealer, owner of Howard House Gallery
Margie Livingston, Painter

When conversations start with heavy imponderables like Where is Painting Going? and Are we in an era of high tech imagery?, my stomach begins to rumble with disquiet. I was prepared to hate this event at the Capitol Hill Art's Center. Stunned by the audience of 80+ people, I wondered when the riot [or at least fist a cuffs] was going to start. Instead, what happened was a well mannered conversation on the nature of painting in the 21st century.

Billy Howard started the conversation with the observation that painting was part of any full gallery's offerings. He stated that he was reading Slowness by Milan Kundera and the Moholy-Nagy's writings were of a great influence on his thought process. Drake Deknatel used phrases like "painting in the digital age" and "painting is the original virtual reality". He discussed painting as a tactile relationship and opined that "drawing is the oldest form of computer graphic". He made a distinction between visual literacy and television [tele] literacy which was very insightful. Margie Livingston provided a quieter view of painting as process and broke the room up with her quotation from PBS painter, Bob Ross.

The real intellectual fireworks came from Elizabeth Brown. She pointed out the cyclical nature of the death of painting claim and spotlighted the trend in museums to discuss works by media specifics. She made some remarkable observations about the need to educate young people in how to look at a work of art and to slow down their visual intake. My favorite thing she said all evening was "90% of everything is mediocre or worse". I had the feeling of being the person next to the person who says "The Emperor has no clothes"

The real importance of events like this are that they allow you to take the pulse of a segment of the Visual Arts Community. One statement from the audience sticks in my mind "Painting trumps social class and economic class", meaning that across the span of cultures, there are those who paint. The lack of Visual Arts Education in the public schools was cited as a problem. The audience actually seemed to listen to what was said and then respond. I liked the informal approach which made the two hour conversation just fly by.

These conversations are what urban life is all about. You cannot expect 80 + people to show up to this event and not talk. That is what is so unique about these forums. Future conversations hosted by John Boyland are:

Access to Tools: Show and Tell (Monday, October 3, with guests Gail Grinnell, Chris Vondrasek, and R-A. Arancio-Parrain.)
"What are your favorite tools for making art, culture, politics, and why? Participants will be asked to bring favorite tools and explain why they are favorites. Paint brushes, minidisk recorders, chisels, cordless drills, notebooks, cameras, incendiaries, scissors, kazoos, dancing shoes, or maybe an old and ever useful piece of twisted wire. What do you pick up every day?"

The Struggle for Common Sense, Revisited (Monday, November 7)
"Last year, just after the election, we staged a rousing conversation about the state of things to come. The air was full of fear and passion and a drive to do something. I want to find out what people have done with that passion and drive in the year since the 2004 election."

Gravity (Monday, January 9)
"A look at gravity, maybe with a physicist, a dancer, a structural engineer, and an acrobat as guests. How much of life, science, and art is about coming to terms with gravity?"

Power (Monday, February 6)
"Having canceled this one twice, I want to stage it, come what may. The subject is power: heat, charisma, volts, and aura; masterpieces, crushing armies, laws, and kindness."

The Culture of Sex (Monday, March 6)
TBA