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About Like So: The Influence of Painting鈥� is a group exhibition that explores how the histories, forms, materials and other qualities associated with painting inform conceptual art practices today. The show is on view at Franklin Street Works from November 22, 2014, through February 22, 2015. The exhibition, curated by Terri C Smith, aims, in part, to challenge expectations of painting, which are often attached to historic movements, decorative qualities or romantic notions of the artist in his or her studio. 鈥淎bout Like So鈥� features works that use paint in unorthodox ways or bypass the medium all together to reveal how the 鈥渓anguage of painting鈥� can invade, obstruct and enhance other art forms. This exhibition asks, 鈥淚n an era where painting no longer has the art historical primacy it once did, what can it contribute to the dominant art practices of today 鈥� art that is often not medium specific and is rooted in the theory-driven practices of conceptual art?鈥� 

The works include sculptures, videos, photographs, sound installations, and digital prints. Loose and disjointed narratives involving the histories and materiality of painting are found in several videos: Ragnheiour Gestsdottir鈥檚 video 鈥淎s If We Existed,鈥� portrays the fictitious melodrama of a figurative painter working in Venice; Tameka Norris鈥檚 鈥淧urple Painting鈥� incorporates makeup and food in a provocative video that, with few words, touches on issues surrounding race, gender and the pressures of an art historical canon; in Alex Hubbard鈥檚 video 鈥淗it Wave II,鈥� a magician gives instructions for tricks, but the sounds and activities surrounding him allude to action painting with Hubbard in the background wearing a paint suit and creating gestural marks with spray paint.