The moving hand, having writ, moves on… So it seems on the cutting edge of the art world, but wait a minute: what about the latest Turner prize? Wasn’t it given to a competent painter, whose works refer back to the visual constructions of the 1940’s and earlier? Many of the critics said that this was indeed the safe choice, and one that came after Tracy Emin’s messy bed, blinking flashbulbs, elephant dung-spattered icons, etc. etc. There was a bit of a feeling of…relief. Cecil Touchon, the talented collagist and painter now has a picture under discussion on Spidertangle which he calls Suprematist. It also harkens back to the heroic times when artistic ISMS actually meant something. Not now, of course, when the only ism applicable to such exercises in nostalgia is “mannerism.”

Cecil’s picture is handsome and I can well imagine that it will find a place in a hotel lobby or a corporate meeting room, but where exactly does it fit in our culture–what is its real value?