Lawrence Gipe and John Seed discuss their mutual enthusiasm for and their "oppositional" tastes in contemporary representational painting. Two excerpts: 

Seed: "Painting is a very, very old tradition, and the painting that interests me now attempts to consolidate and refine venerable traditions… when I first see a new artist's work I ask myself, 'What are the genetic (art historical) strands that this work is woven from?' At the moment, I am seeing exciting work that taps into Old Master and academic art, Expressionism and Bay Area Figuration. Of course there are many other sources being accessed, as well."

Gipe: "I … think that having the meaning of the picture be outside of the 'tableau' itself is a template for an engaged relationship to the world–there's always more than meets the eye in any given image, always layers and layers of back story. While I enjoy abstract painting, it seems conceptually mined-out, a bit exhausted. That's why I gravitate towards representational work… To me, depiction provides the widest platform for artistic expression; it potentially connects with all layers of political, formal and visual issues."