David Kelley, Stephen Hicks, and Michael Newberry Addresses Conference of New Art Foundation

TOC's executive director, David Kelley, was one of several speakers at the inaugural conference of the Foundation for the Advancement of Art (FAA), "Innovation, Substance, Vision: the Future of Art," held at the Pierre Hotel in New York City on October 6. His lecture dealt with the roles that the arts play in the life of human beings.

According to the FAA's founder, artist Michael Newberry—who is a frequent lecturer and exhibitor at TOC's summer seminars—the mission of the organization is "to establish innovative representationalism as the alternative to postmodern art in the world's leading contemporary art museums." It plans to hold conferences in New York and London to promote living representational painters and sculptors. The next conference, to be held in London, is scheduled for March 2004. More information about the organization and its projects may be found at the Web site www.ArtAdvancement.org.

In addition to Kelley and Newberry, the conference speakers included philosopher Stephen Hicks, a professor at Rockford College in Illinois who is also a frequent summer seminar lecturer. "The world of postmodern art," he said, "is a run-down hall of mirrors reflecting tiredly some innovations introduced a century ago." Our only alternative, he declared, is "to look at the world afresh." An earlier and substantially shorter version of Hicks's talk can be found at the FAA's Web site, though it lacks the many images he used to illustrate his points. Also addressing the conference were sculptor Martine Vaugel and Jan Koenderink, a scientist who has published widely on the nature of vision.

According to a press release from the FAA, "the international audience included major figures from the worlds of art and commerce, including Stephen Farthing from the New York Academy of Art, Jennifer Thompson from MASS MoCA, and Lee Minaidis from the Organization of World Heritage Cities."