Adam Fieled (Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, USA): "Installation"

So, there we were in the years. As of four months
left in the century, I would settle in for a very long
stay in Logan Square. Abby & Mary, still in Center
City, had their eyes on rustic, scenic West Philadelphia
as a semi-permanent port of call. Who Abby & Mary
were at PAFA is determined by an understanding of
complexities which made PAFA’s very existence
precarious. The image of PAFA to Europe was sanguine.
Europeans had no problem with painters learning,
employing form, painting with discipline, rather than
the formless Manhattan meandering which made necessary
Abby’s escape. But the East Coast media found form, any
artistic form, corny, & as of the turn of the century,
the kill the country with stupid culture game was still operative.

Thus, PAFA was split between affiliations, down lines which
suggested rocks, hard places. The solution for PAFA, as of
the century turning, was to demonstrate for the media
compliance with their all-consuming, stomach-turning
kill game, by granting prizes, favored status at PAFA
to students working in the disciplines Abby & Mary
thought dumb, & corny right back— installation art,
videos, conceptual gestural art, anything but real painting.
So that, Abby & Mary were true hipsters at PAFA about
drugs, but forced to settle for mid-level status as students,
while the installation crowd got the prizes & plaudits.
Abby, in particular, whose raw sense of painterly giftedness
outweighed the entire institution, including Andrew Wyeth,
was none too pleased, but her life was a fast-moving train. Move on.

© Adam Fieled 2026