all the talk about the return of painting
Post #39 • June 16, 2003, 12:53 PM
Reported by Carol Vogel for the New York Times as she melted in an unseasonably warm Venice while attending this year’s Biennale:
In recent years video and installation art eclipsed painting and sculpture, but at this biennale the opposite was true. While video and installation pieces were evident, painting, particularly portraiture, came in many more guises than in years past. Not only was painting present in many of the 63 national pavilions and in the Arsenale, but it was the subject of an exhibition at the Correr Museum in St. Mark’s Square.
However:
Curiously, for all the talk about the return of painting, the prizes announced here today endorsed many installation pieces and did not reflect the biennale’s curatorial emphasis.
The reasons why were not explained.