No More Painting

No More Painting

No More Painting: a reading group, Wednesday 7 January, 18:30-20:30, in-person at EMBASSY, 7 Ferry Road, EH6 4AD.

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.

The second session, taking place on Wednesday 7th January, 18:30-20:30, will centre on two recent essays by Kristian Vistrup Madsen: ‘Conversations With Friends’ (2023) and ‘Mood over Content’ (2024). In these texts, Vistrup Madsen surveys what he calls ‘art’s artistic turn’ with reference to a range of contemporary painters, before developing a theory of ‘mood’ as critical apparatus. Both essays are available to read online at Kunstkritikk.

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: two paintings in the Museo Julio Romero de Torres wrapped in protective material as the building undergoes renovation.