Let us say, if only for the sake of argument, that abstract painting began with Manet, and ended with Abstract Expressionism, and that there is a “beyond.” How would we conceptualize this “beyond”? Would we say that it is painting’s own return to figuration? The extension of abstraction into other mediums: drawing, sculpture, dance, photography, and digital images? Or is it perhaps something internal to abstract painting itself—something that our critical paradigms did not permit us to see, but that later painters have rendered visible, and that calls for a different periodization? These are a few of the questions that this conference will address.

Abstract Painting and Beyond is inspired by, and will coincide with, an exhibition of Charline von Heyl’s paintings and drawings at the Philadelphia Institute of Contemporary Art. The conference will begin with an evening conversation between von Heyl and Kaja Silverman, and continue over the following two days, with talks by a distinguished group of speakers.

Speakers:
Elise Archias
Nancy Davenport
André Dombrowski
Darby English
Briony Fer
Rachel Haidu
Michael Leja
Daniel Marcus
Christine Poggi
Anne M. Wagner
Margaret Werth

Charline Von Heyl will also give an artist’s talk on February 8th at 6:30 pm, at the ICA.

For more information check out our website at:
www.kajasilverman.com