And just to throw a twister in.... the amount of "information" in one glob of beautifully placed oil paint is almost beyond analysis... so the world of painting is a huge one both past and future... and yes PAINTING is huge in this new language we are talking about in the information age... I for one am calling for a new break with the age of conceptualism, that has reigned so long it has almost lost all meaning as has the word "avant garde." Although it's not like great painting doesn't usually have a concept - however it's more often the language of the execution, and the seduction of that language that makes the concept dangerous, gorgeous, ugly... I'm talking about the painting of it... and now look at what we are painting with! The world of information... Also I'm very tired of hacking as art. Sure ... the whole world human of technological aspiration and hope remains dismally tarnished since WW1 (where the avant garde that still reigns was born due to our ability and determination to annihilate ourselves)... but I'm just saying that this outrage and "see how mad it all is" stuff defined as art is getting just boring as heck to me because even a cow farmer in Iowa can see the world is plum crazy... and you mix that with the gallery scene where for the most part it's all about who has the bucks... and well this is why arts is now on the last page of Arts & Leisure, usually after that.... As for bucks, I"m not saying I don't want them.... I do. But i want to do work that raises the bar on the buck and talks to our time... well, this is turning into a rant which is surely more interesting than a manifesto but it's where my manifesto comes from. I do believe there is a real calling for image makers to bring meaning out of the chaos. It doesn't mean you paint a merely pretty picture (although I would argue that's more useful an offering than painting a piece of conceptual crap) but that you dissect that picture using the tools of the day and promote access, understanding... about life, death, living, hypocrisy, all of that stuff that's timeless to great art but what's different here is we ARE IN AN AGE OF INFORMATION... painting with these tools is the distinction.