Now, I didn't actually use those words. Even Philip Ball, whom I quoted, only suggested a bias that makes it difficult for painters to achieve good marks in school – and, by extension, recognition in the world of high art.

As it happens, the phrase "painting is dead" can be attributed to Alexander Rodchenko, Russian propagandist and Constructivist artist – while in the pay of Joseph Stalin, I might add. It is interesting that the art establishment of the 'free' west, though not so bluntly, has largely regarded painting as, if not dead, redundant. "Outmoded," as Ball put it.

Naturally, every painter in Canada hopes to have a piece of theirs acquired by the National Gallery or the AGO. Just being a painter did not (and does not) automatically preclude this, although, if one is a representational painter or, heaven forbid, a realist, the chances of this happening where quite remote. There have always been exceptions to the rule of course, as installations tend to leave wall space free and performances (unless canvases on the wall are replaced with television screens) provide nothing at all to see when the performance is not actually in progress. In the contemporary world, anything that hinted at tradition would, almost certainly, have been passed over. Happily, in 2008, this trend began to reverse. >>>  Continue Reading