Monochrome Painting: A Posteriori Prototype: Average Size 1994

Stephen Prina made these monochrome paintings, and I’m really wondering what he was thinking! It’s like he's asking: what is the average size for a painting? What is the most boring colour? No wait, is it boring? I love that he’s made them a similar colour to the old-fashioned green chalk boards that were in schools. These aren't just any paintings; they are paintings of averages, of ‘nothing to see here’, only here they are in a gallery context. I like how the materiality of the paint—that smooth, slightly reflective surface—pushes against the idea of the monochrome as a dead end. I think of Robert Ryman, Agnes Martin, and other painters who take on repetition. In a way, they’re all just trying to figure out how to make a painting that matters, against all odds, and to keep the conversation going, onward.