I cannot remember where I read the article. It might have been The Independent actually, I'm not sure. Anyway the point is, this article stated that painting had been out of fashion for a while, but recently making a dramatic comeback into "what's hip in the art world". It seems that painting has slowly crawled back into the cool category once again. Modern painters have been receiving more attention from the media, painting competitions such as the John Moore prize receiving attention for it's reputation and the fact it's the prize's 50th anniversary, also the cherry on the cake, Peter Doig selling one of his paintings for £6.1m, the most ever paid for a painting by a living European artist. So I ask the question, is painting now "cool"? Are we about to witness a painting revolution?

I was lucky enough to get tickets to see a private exhibition of Doig's collection of paintings at the Tait Britain.

As I walked in through the side entrance of the gallery and first saw the others that were attending the exhibition that night, I felt out of place. Everyone seemed to be important, or had some kind of status in this art community. Then there was myself. But it might have just been paranoia on my part.

The exhibition itself was great. A collection of over 50 paintings, spanning the last two decades of Peter Doig's work. There was a sense of electricity in the half empty rooms of the Tait. It really did seem that these paintings were the "dogs bollocks" of the contemporary art scene. I was very inspired by the work. The next day, I started a painting of my own. I was excited and buzzing after such an exhibition the previous night. I want to be part of the revolution too.

On the Independent website there was an interview with Doig questioning him about his work and modern painting in general. When they asked if 21st century painting has a function, he replied:

"No, not in the way music and film does, it doesn't, I mean you can dance to music. Music can be used for a soundtrack , so it has a function in that sense, beyond itself. So painting doesn't have a function. But I do believe that painting has a purpose."

I was interested to know for how long painting had been bubbling underneath the surface ready to boil over. So, I tracked back copies of "Art Review" as far as December last year to see if painting was as involved as the article claimed it was. It seems to me that it is. A great chunk of the magazine does usually involve painters more than anything else, which was nice to see, but unexpected.

In the February Issue there is an interview between Luc Tuymans and Wilhelm Sasnal discussing modern painting.

"Of course it is very much alive, because people do it." - Luc Tuymans

As I strolled through the studios in university, painting seems to be exciting again. But has much changed? Or is it just that a phew little occurrences over the past phew months have reminded us to appreciate painting, and so we give more of our time to study a painting rather than a quick glance. A lot of painting has and still is considered snooty in my opinion. So many galleries I have visited is polluted by twee, thoughtless paintings giving the whole medium a bad name.

A revolution might be bubbling in the cauldron, but I don't know if thats down to painting drastically changing, or just people's points of views being altered.

www.independent.co.uk

www.tate.org.uk

Peter Doig exhibition

Art Review

www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/walker/johnmoores