Maria Doubrovskaia interviews painter Janice Nowinski about her work.

Asked about making paintings after masterworks Nowinski remarks: "I strongly maintain that no painting and no painter has become irrelevant. I do not believe that we move past the issues that they have investigated. I believe that my role is to continue and add my voice to the ongoing conversation. In other words, Rubens and Cezanne, painters whose work I am presently involved in transcribing, feel as vital to me as my contemporaries. I am responding in paint to things that excite and provoke my need to communicate. There are many contemporary painters I am talking to also in my studio. There’s nothing wrong with graffiti–it’s of great interest to sociologists and gives clues to the culture and the time. I’m also interested in cultural issues, but as someone who puts paint on a canvas. I see the act of paining as a vehicle to talk about things–I see myself participating in an ongoing 500- year-old conversation that’s never been broken and that involves paints, brushes, medium and canvas."