(2002-02-25) g

David Gelernter on why it's a [bad time](http://www.prospect-magazine.co.uk/Article View.asp?Accessible=yes&P_Article=9118) for painting, but a good time to be a painter. superhuman accomplishments require superhuman Talent, or a superhuman capacity for unhappiness with your work, or both... Science is a crescendo. Art is an expanding circle... In the meantime, most of us live in rich thriving countries where anyone who wants to paint can easily find a job doing something else... He takes some shots at photography in comparison, saying no great photograph has ever had anything like the power of a great painting. I'm not sure I agree, considering some of the work of Richard Avedon and Robert Frank.