Lilly Lampe compares two exhibitions of contemporary painting: Painters Panting, recently on view at the Atlanta Contemporary Art Center and Painter Painter at the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, on view through September 27, 2013.

Lampe concludes: "These exhibitions and their ilk call attention to the insecurities of painting by their very nature, but in their execution declare the evolution of painting more than a primacy of painting’s original existence. Essentially, painting’s influence is felt strongly, even if what purists would call painting has changed radically. But painting is always changing, and every shift has instigated a call for its death. The moves made by the Impressionists, Modernists, Abstract Expressionists, and so on and so forth, sounded like death knolls to their detractors, but made painting all the more relevant. Enough with the preemptive eulogies and defensive exhibitions; painting exists, and it’s good. The trick is to show it in a framework that’s more self-aware than self-obsessed."