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Books > Arts & Architecture > History of art / art & design styles > From 1900 > Art styles, 1960 - > Conceptual art
In the fateful month of March 2000, shortly after opening a hugely
successful show in New York that unveiled the more nefarious
financial connections of Presidential candidate George W. Bush, the
hugely ambitious Conceptual artist Mark Lombardi was found hanged
in his studio, an apparent suicide. With museums lining up to buy
his work, and the fame he had sought relentlessly at last within
his reach, speculation about whether his death was suicide or
murder has titillated the art world ever since. Lombardi was an
enigma who was at once a compulsive truth-teller and a cunning
player of the art game, a political operative and a stubborn
independent, a serious artist and a Merry Prankster, a
metaphysicist if not a scientist.Lombardi's spidery, elusive
diagrams describing the evolution of the shadow-banking industry
from a decades-old alliances between intelligence agencies,
banking, government and organized crime, may have made him unique
in art history as the only artist whose primary subject, the CIA,
has turned around and studied him and his art work. Exhaustively
researched, this is the first comprehensive biography of this
immensely contradictory and brilliantly original artist whose
pervasive influence in not only the art world, but also in the
world of computer science and cyber-security is only now coming to
light.
Lawrence Weiner, born 1942 in the Bronx, New York City, is a key
protagonist of early conceptual art. His work is characterised by
his use of language as an artistic medium. It is descriptive rather
than prescriptive and does not instruct the viewer to perform a
particular action or interpret a piece in any unequivocal sense.
Rather, it presents the viewer with an infinite number of meanings
and equally infinite possibilities for realisation. ATTACHED BY EBB
& FLOW is an installation Weiner created for Museo Nivola in
Orani, Sardina. The title refers to the tides and relates to
Sardinia-born artist Costantino Nivola's experience of exile and
relocation, as well the current migrant crisis in the Mediterranean
Sea. Sentences are translated from English to Italian to local
Sardu, using different words and verbal constructs and presented
simultaneously to open manifold possibilities to read and
interpret: something may be lost in translation, yet much more can
be found. Text in English and Italian.
The Bitter Sweet Philosophies is a collaboration between the artist
Nick Fedaeff, and a collective of writers known as KK Jart. Nick
Fedaeff is a Russian artist living and working in New Zealand. His
art is exhibited and sold around the world. This particular
collection of his work is an exploration of life through a child's
eyes. Each painting has, Fedaeff says, "a real life behind it" and
is inspired by a childhood memory. The pictures depict the
universal emotions of joy, curiosity and fear, which speak to
adults and children alike. The art of Nick Fedaeff evokes different
responses from different people, depending on their view of life.
It is this complexity that has sparked the KK Jart writers to
respond to each picture in this fabulous book, bringing their own
creativity to the experience of viewing Fedaeff's art. A picture is
worth a thousand words - but each Fedaeff painting contains a
thousand stories. On any page here you may find a thought that
mirrors your own response. Or you may not. Some will make you
laugh. Some will move you. Others may be incomprehensible or appear
unrelated to the image in question. This does not make them wrong
and it does not make them right - which is precisely the point. As
Fedaeff says: "I've done my part. My pictures are very obvious. But
then you have different takes on each one. The writers have their
own independent vision and points of view. It has been a very
unusual experience." Hopefully, the result of this collaboration
will bring smiles of recognition. Or better still, invite your own
response. Because, as we all know, there are far too many Bitter
Sweet Philosophies to be contained in one book.
At the age of 81, Yvon Lambert is one of the most influential
collectors of our time. He was only 14 years old when he used his
pocket money to buy his first work of art. In 1966, he opened his
own gallery in Paris, which soon became a top venue for
contemporary art. It was Lambert who introduced the minimal art,
land art and conceptual art movements to a wider European audience
at a time when they were still relatively new. Besides his work as
an art dealer, Lambert has spent the past fifty years creating one
of the most prominent collections of contemporary art. In 2011, he
donated more than 600 of his works to the French state, which are
now on display in a specially dedicated museum in Avignon. In the
context of the art project Skulptur Projekte Munster 2017, the
Pablo Picasso Art Museum in Munster brings the Lambert Collection
to Germany for the first time. In particular, the exhibition
features works of artists who have been part of the Skulptur
Projekte programme since its early years. Some of their works
include installations that still exist in the city today.
"All the work of the 1970s involved a kind of doubling; there was
the world of the everyday and there was the world of the
represented ...a sense of our experiential worlds becoming
bifurcated between image and reality." John Stezaker This is the
first publication to explore the rich history of conceptual art in
Britain during its most exciting and innovative period, from the
mid 1960s to the election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979. It examines
how the early works of this period took the form of a challenge to
art's traditional boundaries and how by the mid 1970s, focus had
shifted away from issues of art and individual experience towards
questions of politics and identity, using the languages of
documentary, propaganda and advertising in the service of action.
After introducing the reader to the origins of this radical moment
in British art, the book goes on to explore the textual work of Art
& Language, Victor Burgin and others; the 'New Sculpture' being
produced by those such as Richard Long and Michael Craig-Martin who
questioned the traditional art object; and the artists who
addressed society and politics, including Stephen Willats and
Margaret Harrison.A final chapter deals with the key role of
photography, film and print - revealing them to be key modes of
dissemination and international exchange with Europe and America.
Essays are complemented by in-focus texts on the most significant
works and previously unpublished archival material. Featuring
contributions by experts in the field, this is the key book on the
subject for students, scholars and all those with an
The beautiful minds of six extremely successful women artists in
the entertainment industry present Lovely: Ladies of Animation. The
history of art in animation has had many female heroes; this elite
group is continuing the tradition and building upon it. Featuring
the first published personal works by Lorelay Bove, Lisa Keene, and
Claire Keane along with the works of previously published Mingjue
Helen Chen, Brittney Lee and Victoria Ying, LOVELY is an
indispensible addition to the library of anyone interested in
animation. With a variety of styles, from graphic works to
realistic portraits, these images will inspire and delight the
viewer with each turn of the page."
A major reassessment of photography's pivotal role in 1960s
conceptual art Why do we continue to look to photographs for
evidence despite our awareness of photography's potential for
duplicity? Documents of Doubt critically reassesses the truth
claims surrounding photographs by looking at how conceptual artists
creatively undermined them. Studying the unique relationship
between photography and conceptual art practices in the United
States during the social and political instability of the late
1960s, Heather Diack offers vital new perspectives on our
"post-truth" world and the importance of suspending easy
conclusions in contemporary art. Considering the work of four
leading conceptual artists of the 1960s and '70s, Diack looks at
photographs as documents of doubt, pushing the form beyond commonly
assumed limits. Through in-depth and thorough reevaluations of
early work by noted artists Mel Bochner, Bruce Nauman, Douglas
Huebler, and John Baldessari, Diack advances the powerful thesis
that photography provided a means of moving away from the object
and toward performative effects, playing a crucial role in the
development of conceptual art as a medium of doubt and contingency.
Discussing how unexpected and contradictory meanings can exist in
the guise of ordinary pictures, Documents of Doubt offers evocative
and original ideas on truth's connection to photography in the
United States during the late 1960s and how conceptual art from
that period anticipated our current era of "alternative facts" in
contemporary politics and culture.
The highly anticipated follow up to Structura and Structura 2,
Structura 3 is the newest collection of images from HALO art
director, Sparth, which takes viewers on an amazing journey to
imaginary lands. As with his prior best selling books, Structura 3
will not only share his fascinating artwork but will also have tips
of the trade for creating believable digital environments and
lands. Step-by-step tutorials will provide anyone with the
educational tools necessary to design their own fantastical worlds.
This next addition to the Structura library is not to be missed!
Everything is Relevant: Writings on Art and Life, 1991-2018 brings
together texts by Canadian artist Ken Lum. They include diary
entries, articles, catalogue essays, curatorial statements, a
letter to an editor, and more. Along the way, the reader learns
about late modern, postmodern, and contemporary art practices, as
well as debates around issues such as race, class, and
monumentality. Penetrating, insightful, and often moving, Lum's
writings are essential for understanding his varied practice, which
has often been prescient of developments within contemporary art.
At the intersection of art, contemporary design, and social
activism, Winfried Baumann's ongoing Urban Nomads series has as its
focus the harsh realities of homelessness and neonomadism, often in
conjunction with issues of housing, food, and restricted mobility.
Foremost among the projects that comprise Urban Nomads is Instant
Housing, a collection of customizable and readily mobile
residential units for those in need of shelter. Other projects in
the series range from the transportable cooking stations of Instant
Cooking to mobile medical care units and Dresscode, which considers
the special requirements of dress for those without a permanent
address. Formally trained as a sculptor, Baumann brings to each of
his projects both a careful consideration of function and a mastery
of sculptural technique. With more than four hundred full-color
illustrations, this is the first English-language publication to
focus solely on Baumann's powerful and thought-provoking body of
work. Rounding out the volume is an extensive interview with the
artist and several essays by scholars in the field, shedding light
on how the Urban Nomads projects prompt reflection on our own
lifestyles and those around us.
Writing in Space, 1973-2019 gathers the writings of conceptual
artist Lorraine O'Grady, who for over forty years has investigated
the complicated relationship between text and image. A firsthand
account of O'Grady's wide-ranging practice, this volume contains
statements, scripts, and previously unpublished notes charting the
development of her performance work and conceptual photography; her
art and music criticism that appeared in the Village Voice and
Artforum; critical and theoretical essays on art and culture,
including her classic "Olympia's Maid"; and interviews in which
O'Grady maps, expands, and complicates the intellectual terrain of
her work. She examines issues ranging from black female
subjectivity to diaspora and race and representation in
contemporary art, exploring both their personal and their
institutional implications. O'Grady's writings-introduced in this
collection by critic and curator Aruna D'Souza-offer a unique
window into her artistic and intellectual evolution while
consistently plumbing the political possibilities of art.
With cover artwork specially created by Ruscha, this book documents
hundreds of projects and miscellaneous ephemera produced by the
artist alongside his main oeuvre-including installations, films,
painted book covers, contour gauge profiles, and more Introducing
readers to the stunning breadth of Edward Ruscha's (b. 1937)
creative output over the course of his entire life, this book
includes materials dating back to his childhood and extending to
his present-day output. The projects featured here fall outside
Ruscha's production of paintings, drawings, prints, and artists'
books. Many of these are unknown and most are reproduced here for
the first time. Composed of three sections-Projects and Ephemera;
Contour Gauge Profiles; and Painted Book Covers-the book offers
Ruscha enthusiasts and scholars a hitherto unknown aspect of
Ruscha's practice, while also showing how these projects coincide
with, and sometimes even prefigure, the artistic work for which he
is best known. The approximately 270 painted book covers, begun in
1990, utilize found books as support for small paintings and
drawings. The 57 contour gauge profiles are silhouette-like
profiles made using a mechanical device for reproducing contours.
The largest section, Projects and Ephemera, consists of
installations, sculpture and objects, films, book and poster
design, utilitarian works, and more. Distributed for Gagosian
On July 9, 1975, artist Bas Jan Ader set sail from Chatham,
Massachusetts, for Palmouth, England, on the second leg of a
three-part piece titled In Search of the Miraculous. His damaged
boat was found south of the western tip of Ireland nearly a year
later. He was never seen again. Since his untimely death, Ader has
become a legend in the art world as a figure literally willing to
die for his art. Considering the artist's legacy and oeuvre beyond
the mysterious circumstances of his peculiar end, Alexander
Dumbadze resituates Ader's art and life within the Los Angeles
conceptual art scene of the early 1970s. Blending biography,
theoretical reflection, and archival research to draw a detailed
picture of the world in which Ader's work was rooted, Bas Jan Ader
is a thoughtful reflection on the necessity of the creative act and
its inescapable relation to death.
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