Vitamin P is an image-heavy book offering an overview of the state of painting today, and documents the most recent concerns and ideas among contemporary painters. In the wake of new media such as installation, video, performance and digital art, the traditional medium of painting has enjoyed a renaissance among a recent generation of artists. Alongside the evergrowing reputation of significant living painters such as Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin and Peter Halley, many younger artists have chosen painting over any other medium, and are exploring new means to broaden the traditional field of "oil on canvas". It is this younger generation (who emerged in the 1990s) that Vitamin P aims to represent in an A-Z survey of 114 of its leading, new, international practitioners, with each artist illustrated by numerous examples of his or her works, accompanied by a short explanatory text. Often moving beyond the most traditional image associated with this medium, Vitamin P hopes to illustrate the richness, eclecticism, dynamism and contemporaneity of the practice of painting today. Barry Schwabsky's introductory text offers a critical survey of the evolution of painting since the late 1950's:Tomnz Ackermann, Nader Ahriman, Haluk Akakce, Brian Alfred, Laylah Ali, Kai Althoff, Francis Alys, Ghada Amer, Carole Benzaken, Simone Berti, Peter Bonde, Cecily Brown, Glenn Brown, Jane Callister, Merlin Carpenter, Denis Castellas, Angela de la Cruz, John Currin, Stephane Dafflon, Ian Davenport, Verne Dawson, Gabriele Di Matteo, Ding Yi, Atul Dodiya, Markus Dobeli, Peter Doig, Dubossarsky & Vinogradov, Marlene Dumas, Cecilia Edefalk, Gia Edzgveradze, Inka Essenhigh, Pia Fries, Bernard Frize, Ellen Gallagher, Tim Gardner, Andrew Grassie, Joanne Greenbaum, Katharina Grosse, Eberhard Havekost, Dan Hays, Arturo Herrera, Federico Herrero, Hiroshi Sugito, Hong Seung-Hye, Gary Hume, IRWIN, Sergej Jensen, Yishai Jusidman, Johannes Kahrs, Ziga Kariz, Bhupen Khakhar, Toba Khedoori, Karen Kilimnik, Carla Klein, Michael Krebber, Udomsak Krisanamis, Jim Lambie, Sean Landers, Michael Lin, Tor-Magnus Lundeby, Michel Majerus, Margherita Manzelli, Fabian Marcaccio, Mona Marzouk, Suzanne McClelland, Lucy McKenzie, Julie Mehretu, Beatriz Milhazes, Yan Pei Ming, Miquel Mont, Sarah Morris, Muntean & Rosenblum, Takashi Murakami, Yoshitomo Nara, Caro Niederer, Manuel Ocampo, Chris Ofili, Laura Owens, Elizabeth Peyton, Richard Phillips, Bernard Piffaretti, Avery Preesman, Monique Prieto, Rob Pruitt, Mantalina Psoma, Chatchai Puipia, Tal R, Michael Raedecker, Neo Rauch, Daniel Richter, Matthew Ritchie, Peter Rostovsky, Murat Sahinler, Wilhelm Sasnal, Thomas Scheibitz, Adrian Schiess, Daniel Schlier, George Shaw, Gulammohammed Sheikh, Kate Shepherd, James Siena, Dirk Skreber, Miha ?trukelj, Djamel Tatah, Jos?EToirac, Fred Tomaselli, John Tremblay, Luc Tuymans, Adriana Varejao, Richard Wright, Yek, Lisa Yuskavage,ma Abts, Fra Zhou Tiehai. Barry Schwabsky’s introductory text offers a critical survey of the evolution of painting since the late 1950’s Modernist painting, and introduces some of the trends, methods and artists included in the book.In the following and largest section of the book (320 pages and 480 illustrations), the 114 artists are presented in an A to Z order. Some artists are presented on 2 pages, some on 4 pages. 3 to 7 images are reproduced for each artist, along with a 500 word text written by an author specialist of the artist’s work. The texts on each artist are short 500 word surveys of their work, and aim at introducing the methods and subject matter at stake in their recent works. A selected list of exhibitions and bibliography also complements the reproductions and text on each artist.
