No More Painting

No More Painting

No More Painting: a reading group, Wednesday 6 May, 18:30-20:30, in-person.

No More Painting is a reading group focusing on debates in contemporary painting and the discourses that have probed and problematised the medium over the last 50 years. The selected texts will investigate painting’s place within the political and economic spheres, as well as the role that painting has historically played in the construction and policing of national identity. No background knowledge in the history or theory of painting is required. It would be particularly valuable to hear from practicing painters as well as those interested in looking at and talking about painting. These sessions take place in-person at EMBASSY Gallery, 7 Ferry Road, EH6 4AD.

In the sixth session, taking place on Wednesday 6th May, 18:30-20:30, we will be looking at two texts:  ‘On Color’ (2016), a talk on the material and economic properties of paint by the American artist Amy Sillman, and ‘Shadow Cabinet’ (2019), an aphoristic essay by critic and novelist Teju Cole inspired by the work of Kerry James Marshall. Sillman’s associative and anecdotal text examines her relationship to colour with a particular focus on value and material processes, drawing out the differences between the experience of making and viewing paintings. Cole also looks at colour’s relationship to value through wide ranging reflections on the colour black, taking into account the history of slavery, the origins of photography, manufacturing processes, mythology, and much more. Both essays offer insights into what goes into a painting before a brush has touched the canvas.

If you are interested in joining, please send a quick email to embassygalleryedinburgh@gmail.com with the subject ‘No More Painting’.

The name of the reading group is borrowed from Duchamp’s injunction to himself in 1913, the year he completed his first readymades: ‘Marcel, no more painting; go get a job’.

Image: painting included in a window display at Søstrene Grene, Waverley Mall, 2026.