First let me introduce myself. I`m a 19-year-old would-be classical realist painter from a small town called Vrsac in Serbia. I was about to go to the Academy of Arts in Belgrade to study painting but in the last minute I decided that I didn`t want to be brain-washed with modernist philosophy for the next four years so I took the entrance exams for Business school, did them well and now I`m studying manegement in the media. And with pretty good grades, my average so far is 9.6! :) As for my art training, there`s a very good painter in town who`s teaching me at the moment so that isn`t a big problem for now. Nobody says I can`t paint if I didn`t finish the Academy of Arts, right? :) Anyway, I discovered the Art Renewal Center three or four years ago while searching for reproductions of Alma-Tadema`s paintings and was completely captivated by the great art and techniqal perfection that smacked me in the face after I dug a bit deeper into this great online museum. I completely agree with the ARC philosophy and believe that it was about time someone stood up and told the world what kind of rubbish was presented to us as great art for almost a century! This one goes to Fred Ross - YOU ARE DEFINITELY THE GREATEST MAN ALIVE AS FAR AS ART WORLD IS CONCENED! :) I`m serious! What you are doing is so important for the sake of future generations that I cannot even imagine it. When it comes to art beauty was completely banned from it in the past century. You and all the people who are working on this are bringing back the faith in human sanity in this crazy world. Some time after the ARChives appeared on the site I decided to join this Yahoo group and become a part of all these interesting discussions.

Best wishes,
Stefan