Painting, according to recent findings, dates back more than seventy thousand years, and, across the millenia, it proved to be an extremely robust and versatile medium of human self-reflection. Today, painting is a medium almost exclusively confined to the artistic production of pictures. It has lost its dominant position in contemporary art and has finally become one artistic medium amongst others. Given the incredible number of pictures produced today, it seems to be reasonable and relevant to discuss whether and how painting is still pertinent to contemporary image production. This book will offer a variety of perspectives on the role of painting in the 21st century to address these questions.

Tillmann Damrau is an artist. He studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Munich. In 2007/08 and 2014/15 he was a visiting professor at the Philipps University of Marburg. He has moreover held lectureships, given lectures, and directed workshops and projects at universities in Germany and abroad. Since 2016, he has been a full professor at the Institute of Art and Material Culture at TU Dortmund University. His artistic work has received several awards and has been exhibited internationally.