I think the lightbulb is actually a pretty good visual metaphor to encapsulate the merits of looking backward at technology. In this day and age, I don't think there needs to be a direct reference to computer or screen or cyber ... their influence on perception is ubiquitous and to some extent (I hope) can be taken as read. And the history of art&technology feels to me like a very relevant thing to discuss. However, the Sillman paintings are pretty unappealing, and trying to formulate a discourse around one's own paintings with other media is clunky in the extreme. It feels too forced, especially since there is so much other good work that evokes the materiality of idea, the crunching of formal and conceptual concerns, without the need to over-articulate it in a didactic way. But the artists I am thinking of who really succeed at this- Lorna Mills, Rebecca Diederichs, Fastwurms, Andrew J. Paterson...are all using multi-media. Painters who do it? I know of painters who are trying. Matt Crookshank is one. Maybe Angela Leach. Monica Tap for sure. It's harder in painting, but I wouldn't rule the medium out altogether.
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- sally mckay 5-05-2010 4:18 pm