As long as I can remember I knew that I was an artist; as a young teen I knew that I wanted to pursue fine art and painting as a career. I remember my first few days in art school, I was so excited! Finally I would study that which I loved most; painting!
I eagerly participated in the lectures and went to every class with a smile on my heart and big ears trying to absorb as much information as possible.
One of the first things the instructors mentioned is that "painting is dead". I couldn't believe my ears. What were they talking about? That was a great way to discourage someone. I felt terrible, here I am a painter, something I knew about myself for a very long time, and the school is telling me that painting is dead. Did this mean that I was dead? I considered myself lucky because I already at a young age knew what I wanted to do with my life; so many people spend a lifetime trying to figure that one out! When I heard that remark I felt that not only did I have to start from scratch as a painter but I had to dig myself out of a negative dead hole, painting was dead remember?
They said painting was dead because in the mid-1800's photography could replace paint by representing and documenting the world in a much more precise and quicker manner than what could be accomplished with a brush and paint.
Marcel Duchamp simply gave up painting entirely and focused mainly on dada and neo dada objects which later became the inspiration for conceptual art.
In my humble opinion painting is alive and well. Painting is alive because it is driven by the art market. It continues to live because of the institutions which promote it; museums, galleries, collectors, critics and art schools. Now what about the artist? If I am alive , and I am a painter, therefore painting is alive!
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