On November 17, 2009 I attended the Mercedes Matter Gallery Tour at the 22nd street Baruch building. The line to get in was pretty long. The art did not personally appeal to me though I will admit waiting in the long line put me in such a groggy mood I was not enthusiastic about the gallery. The tour guide gave us some information about the artist, none of which I can recall except that during the artist’s time period people began to paint abstractly since the invention of the camera made painting portraits less necessary.