“Besides, one can easily realize how the imitations that painting presents to us can move us when one stops to think how a shell, or perhaps a medal where time has left only ghosts of letters and figures, excite restless passions and arouse the desire to see them and to possess them.”—Diderot

Tam Ochiai’s highly referential work at Ulrik brought to my mind this brief passage in Diderot’s definition from the encyclopedia, as his work’s concern would seem to primarily be with the moments of what one might consider the minor appearance of painting alongside such activities as travel, writing, smoking, browsing magazines, or shopping, etc. Overtly, we’re asked: is it still painting if it is held alongside models in Tokyo during a fashion show, if it appears on the jib of a sailboat, if one ashes on it while smoking a cigarette, if it is simply a piece of tablecloth after a dinner, or even the table itself?

This has all been confirmed, of course, the question regarding painting’s larger…