The house-painting firm THAT’S PAINTING has been in business for over twenty years, providing construction, renovation, custom mural, and color consultations. The firm prides itself on its personal approach to its clients. A sole proprietorship run by Bernard Brunon, a French artist and curator, it does not simply follow a standard business model, but is itself a long-term artistic project (see: making use). Drawing inspiration from minimalist painting, Brunon often executes large-scale, monochromatic works in the spirit of modernism, which are nothing other than a professionally executed house-painting service (see: coefficient of art). This is an example of occupational realism, when performing one’s job becomes at the same time an artistic practice. THAT’S PAINTING is also an action on a 1:1 scale, where the work that is created does not yield to any non-artistic reality for which it becomes a metaphor or a model imitating it. Practices of this type are also characterized by double ontology, as a craft project and an artistic action rolled up into one—utilitarian practice with a conceptual superstructure. For Making Use, the firm THAT’S PAINTING painted a portion of the exhibition architecture.
MAKING USE. LIFE IN POSTARTISTIC TIMES
IS AN
EXHIBITION
AND
PUBLIC PROGRAM
FEATURING MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED
PARTICIPANTS
THAT’S PAINTING
Exterior view of a THAT’S PAINTING commission (private home), photo courtesy Bernard Brunon.