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Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting

March 7, 2020 – February 14, 2021

East Building, Level B, Joyce W. Pope Gallery, North Carolina Museum of Art

Throughout modern art history, painting has been declared dead and later resuscitated so many times that the issue now tends to largely be ignored. Despite any debate over painting’s viability, artists continue to persevere in keeping the medium fresh and new. Currently painting is enjoying a revival in the art world, and innovative North Carolina artists are helping to maintain its vibrant place on the front burner.

There has perhaps never been a time like the present for the tactile, human, and emotional nature of painting to shine. Amid the constant inundation of modern media, the act of painting itself can feel like an antidote to chaos, a way of slowing down and setting order to the precarious, disorienting environment around us. Similarly, audiences are asked to slow down and approach paintings with patience, critical thinking, and an open mind and heart.

Front Burner: Highlights in Contemporary North Carolina Painting features a sampling of some of the most relevant and engaging painting being made in the state. The exhibition presents 25 emerging, mid-career, and established artists working within a variety of mediums and ideas. In styles ranging from abstract to figurative and representational, these artists explore the endless possibilities of paint in unique, personal ways.