its tenth year, and is geared towards nurturing dialog on contemporary painting and the shared ideas that define current trends in the field. Many painters work alone, an isolated process that deprives the artist of thriving debate until the work is shown. This year’s conference will feature some of the most talented and well known painters working today.
This conference provides a unique opportunity and an intimate setting to interact with top artists. UC Davis, home to artist Roy de Forest, Roland Peterson, Wayne Thiebaud, and Robert Arneson, was instrumental in defining a new direction for a uniquely West Coast style. Nowhere else in the country will the participant be able to interact and discuss the purity of painting in one place. Meet face-to- face with distinguished artists you might only otherwise read about. This year, a collegiate exhibition of the top 20 young college student painters will be on display. Many awards will be given to these young artists that represent the future of painting. The conference is partially funded by the city of Davis.
Peri Schwartz is from New York and works with abstraction from carefully curated still lifes. Chester Arnold spent his formative years in Germany which influenced his art making to center around ideas of perspective. Finally, Alex Gross; “His respect for the past, his intelligent sympathy for the alien, and his manifest love for his craft have made him very much an artist of our time”-Bruce Sterling, Los Angeles Times. Alex Gross is from New York and is currently in L.A. but is heavily influenced by the history of Japanese art. These three artists have unique perspectives and approaches to their professional work. The conferences goal is to provide these varying perspectives and allow interaction between young students and professionals in the field, fostering the strong tradition of painting and culture in the Northern California region through exposure and discussion.