Ilia,

You are an eternal optimist - not that there is anything wrong with that.

The thought that I was struggling with last night touches on part of your reply and the comments of the last two or three letters.

I think now that my original question was wrong or, at best, naive. In truth, it was a moan about how painting has become marginalized in favour of video, cinema, and the paperback. But if the past year has taught us anything, it's that ** RANDOM ACTS OF TERRORISM ARE NOW THE DOMINANT ARTFORM ON THE PLANET **.

I wish it were not so.

abvg