The State of Contemporary Painting Panel Discussion @ USF

Monday, October 21st, 2013, a panel discussion was held at USF with the following artists as panel members...

Rochelle Feinstein received a BFA from Pratt Institute in 1975 and an MFA from the University of Minnesota in 1978. She lives and works in New York City. Among recent awards and grants she has received are a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation Fellowship, a Joan Mitchell Foundation grant, and a Foundation for Contemporary Performing Arts grant. She was appointed to the Yale faculty in 1994 and is currently professor of painting/printmaking.<http://rochellefeinsteinstudio.com/>

Neil Bender received his MFA from Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia and his BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University. He also attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, the ‘Painting’s Edge’ program in Idyllwild, CA, and the Vermont Studio Center. Bender has exhibited his work nationally and has been represented at the Select, Bridge, and Circa PR (in San Juan, PR) Fairs.
<http://www.pheromonewave.com/>

Elisabeth Condon received her BFA from Otis Art Institute of Parsons School of Design and an MFA from School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She attended Yaddo Artist Residency in 2007, Beijing’s Red Gate International Artist Residency in 2005, and Stock 20 International Artist Residency, Taichung, Taiwan, in 2005 and 2004.
<http://www.elisabethcondon.com/>

Ezra Johnson received an MFA in Painting from Hunter College in New York in 2006 and has exhibited his work at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, Site Santa Fe, and the ICA in Philadelphia as well as at galleries nationally and internationally. He joined the USF School of Art and Art History faculty in Fall of 2013. <http://www.ezrajohnson.com/>

Plus Margaret Miller, Director IRA, who also acted as moderator.

Amazingly, one of the seven spots alloted for USF visitors opened up. The event took place in the concert hall in the music department.

Each artist gave a presentation and slide show. Ms. Feinstein about her use of text in painting, clever allusions to her mortality, nuances of language in the culture, and more. Neil Bender spoke about decoration (which he emphatically includes in his backgrounds), alluded to the sex in his work while simultaneously skirting it and the inner and outer body. Elizabeth Condon talked about Chinese scrolls and how her art has incorporated some of their tropes. Ezra Johnson spoke about his painted art animations. 

The discussion that followed was brief and on the weak side. The panelists hardly interacted, and the moderator seemed eager to close the event. In spite of all this, I enjoyed it, learned from the individual artists and congratulate USF for putting on events like these and opening them up to the community.

--- Luis