'Ceci N'est Pas Une Peinture,' a Painting

Description

This is not a painting. What is a painting? Is it the brushstrokes of pigment on canvas that make a … more This is not a painting. What is a painting? Is it the brushstrokes of pigment on canvas that make a painting a painting? If you're a caveman, a painting is clay on the wall of a cave. If you're Michelangelo, a painting is a fresco on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. If you're Lichtenstein, a painting is dots of color on a canvas. And if you're Warhol, paintings are screen printed images of celebrities. Can they also be an idea in your mind? This painting breaks our understandings of what a painting can be. Firstly, the brushstrokes of black pigment smeared on a canvas don't exist. They were digitally printed. Secondly, the canvas doesn't exist. It's a maple board. It's not signed, so does it exist as a work of art? There's nothing about this painting that says it's a painting, yet it IS a painting. But, this is not a painting. less