I had an interesting conversation the other day with a painter friend about issues of style, which I proposed were now obsolete, or at least far less important than perhaps they were once upon a time. I didn’t have a good reason but then after hanging up had a “L’esprit de l’escalier”. Carl Linnaeus. Like so many things in our society modes of classification (including art) derive from science, which provided the model for organizing art into movements and styles. Genetic research has shaken up Linnaean methodology, and while nobody is quite ready to throw the baby out with the bathwater, the historic paradigm needs a serious upgrade. The common thread between art and science is too obvious to mention without insulting the reader, but it is encouraging to regard sound reasons to abandon weary monikers like “realist”, “abstractionist” and “conceptualist”.