The Vancouver Art Gallery is about to open an exhibition about contemporary painting. Some people might be tempted to say, “It’s about time.” To art world insiders, the exhibition signals a big change in the ideology around painting.
Not too long ago, painting was considered dead. Finished. Forever left in the dustbin of history. Its official demise was announced by the influential art journal October when it published the now-famous essay The End of Painting in 1981.