A place for painting? ‘Painting is dead.’ This 1838 quote comes from French painter Paul Delaroche. Photography had been invented a few years earlier and Delaroche had just seen a daguerreotype for the first time. This new technology was seen as such a threat to the old methods of painting that people did not think […]Read Post ›
Throughout this last year our central concern as graduate students of painting has been to extend our knowledge of paint in all its forms and all its actions. We have talked about paint, we have read about paint, we have listened to others talk about paint, we have written about paint, we have looked at paintings […]Read Post ›
My attempts to work with ink on supports/grounds other than paper continued this term and I came across a pot of absorbent ground so decided to give it a try. Absorbent ground is a thick white gesso-like substance that can be painted on to a support. When dry it creates a highly absorbent, porous, paper […]Read Post ›
I began the academic year with a completely open mind and an awareness that I wanted to develop my practice. I was keen to try new things and to push the boundaries of what I could achieve. I had absolutely no idea where to start however. My previous work had been through various changes in […]Read Post ›
At the beginning of the year my research questions were fairly undefined. I am interested in politics and social theory as well as painting so my ideas were mainly centred around disadvantaged or liminal groups in society and I was interested to find out if painting could somehow address their situation and possibly even give […]Read Post ›
Although the title of this post is Women in Art a more appropriate title might be Where are the Women in Art? Even now, there is a dearth of women in the art world which is, unsurprisingly, dominated by white men. Last year Laura Reilly, writing for Art News magazine collated the available research on […]Read Post ›
What is the place of painting? What is its function? Why do artists paint and why do others view paintings? We discussed these questions recently with Nelson Diplexcito in relation to John Berger’s ideas about the place of painting. Berger wrote ‘The function of painting is to fill an absence with the simulacrum of a […]Read Post ›
What Painting Knows was a painting research event at Wimbledon College of Arts. It consisted of a panel discussion between artists Simon Burton, Kaye Donachie, Mark Fairnington and Nadine Feinson. The discussion was chaired by Tom Helyar-Cardwell and supported by Geraint Evans and Zoe Mendelson. The central idea was based on Hanneke Grootenboers argument that […]Read Post ›
The Undead Painters were founded in2013 by James Petrucci and Alastair Gordon. They are a group of accomplished artists who aim to provoke discussion and debate around the most pressing issues in contemporary painting. They hold various events including exhibitions and educational forums. We were lucky enough to have them visit us at Wimbledon this […]Read Post ›
As an artist I spend a considerable amount of time considering colour. Contemplating, among other things, how to mix colours, their effects, their relationships to other colours, their symbolism and meaning. I looked recently at works by Yves Klein at MAMAC and was (once again) struck by his powerful use of colour. Klein’s monochrome […]Read Post ›
