





Charles Moore
On painting
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| Release | July 2026 |
| Author(s) | Charles Moore |
| Cover | Softcover |
| Size | 12 x 18 cm |
| Pages | 224 |
| Illustrations | 16 |
| Language(s) | English |
| ISBN | 978-3-96912-236-5 |
For this collection of interviews, New York-based art historian and curator Charles Moore spoke with seven painters about their career paths and motivations. The conversations delve deep—often reaching back to childhood and formative encounters—while distilling the contemporary themes and questions present in the artists’ work. Topics of discussion include pausing as a radical act; the pursuit of density alongside the potential for escape; the emotional resonance of color symbolism and negative space; parameters of time and relativity; algorithms for the improbable; the constructs of national identity and collective memory; the perspectival possibilities of subtlety; and, time and again, painting as a medium capable of reflecting the full spectrum of African American identity.
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