Representing a new generation of theorists reaffirming the radical dimensions of art, Gail Day launches a bold critique of late twentieth-century art theory and its often reductive analysis of cultural objects. Exploring core debates in discourses on art, from the New Left to theories of "critical postmodernism" and beyond, Day counters the belief that recent tendencies in art fail to be adequately critical. She also challenges the political inertia that results from these conclusions.

Day organizes her defense around critics who have engaged substantively with emancipatory thought and social process: T. J. Clark, Manfredo Tafuri, Fredric Jameson, Benjamin H. D. Buchloh, and Hal Foster, among others. She maps the tension between radical dialectics and left nihilism and assesses the interpretation and internalization of negation in art theory.

Chapters confront the claim that exchange and equivalence have subsumed the use value of cultural objects--and with it critical distance-- and interrogate the proposition of completed nihilism and the metropolis put forward in the politics of Italian operaismo. Day covers the debates on symbol and allegory waged within the context of 1980s art and their relation to the writings of Walter Benjamin and Paul de Man. She also examines common conceptions of mediation, totality, negation, and the politics of anticipation. A necessary unsettling of received wisdoms, "Dialectical Passions" recasts emancipatory reflection in aesthetics, art, and architecture.

Described by Art Review as 'one of the most influential people in the contemporary art world in 2018', Theaster Gates (b. 1973, Chicago) explores the complex and interweaving issues of race, territory and inequality as a socially engaged artist. Living and working in Chicago, Gates began his career studying urban planning, followed by ceramics, both of which continue to inform his work. At the heart of the book, Gates looks at the history of Malaga island in Maine, USA. In 1912, the state governor evicted the island's ethnically diverse population with no offer of housing or support. Gates's body of work - sculpture, installation, film, music and dance - responds to this little-known story, connecting it with the wider history of African-American people. A new film called 'Dance of Malaga 2019' features the choreography of acclaimed American dancer Kyle Abraham, and a highlight of the publication are the many beautiful stills from the film. Through a combination of essays, Theaster Gates's own words and a careful selection of illustrations, this publication will underline the artist's influence in contemporary art and interracial relationships, while its accessible approach will appeal to all.

Five decades of work by groundbreaking Indigenous artist Jaune Quick-to-See Smith Throughout her career as artist, activist, and educator, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith (b. 1940) has forged a personal yet accessible visual language she uses to address environmental destruction, war, genocide, and the misreading of the past. An enrolled Salish member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Nation, Smith cleverly deploys elements of abstraction, neo-expressionism, and pop, fusing them with Indigenous artistic traditions to upend commonly held conceptions of historical narratives and illuminate absurdities in the formation of dominant culture. Her drawings, prints, paintings, and sculptures blur categories and question why certain visual languages attain recognition, historical privilege, and value, reflecting her belief that her “life’s work involves examining contemporary life in America and interpreting it through Native ideology.�  Also central to Smith’s work and thinking is the land and she emphasizes that Native people have always been part of the land: “These are my stories, every picture, every drawing is telling a story. I create memory maps.� The publication illustrates nearly five decades of Smith’s work in all media, accompanied by essays and short texts by contemporary Indigenous artists and scholars on each of Smith’s major bodies of work. Distributed for Whitney Museum of American Art   Exhibition Schedule: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York April 19–August 13, 2023 Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth October 15, 2023–January 7, 2024 Seattle Art Museum February 15–May 12, 2024  

Georgia O'Keeffe spent almost 40 years of her life in the American Southwest. Her two houses in New Mexico; at Ghost Ranch and Abiquiu and the landscapes around them became essential elements in her paintings. The mountains and arroyos, the skulls and the Jimson weeds, a ladder against a wall, a door; all transformed by her genius into a quintessentially American art. Astonishingly, the history of these houses has never before been written. In this volume, Barbara Buhler Lynes and Agapita Judy Lopez create a vibrant picture of O'Keeffe at home. Drawing on O'Keeffe's correspondence, Lynes and Lopez set forth their fascinating story. An essay by architect Beverly Spears describes the distinctive characteristics of adobe architecture and its construction, and the many individuals involved with the house are identified. An appendix provides valuable information about the materials used in resorting the Abiquiu house. Photographs made especially for this book show the houses as they are today, plus dozens of photographs made by major photographers during her life show her living in the houses. Photographs of her painting and specific architectural components of the Abiquiu house are also included. These photographs and their accompanying texts offer for the first time a compelling picture of O'Keeffe's life in New Mexico, how each house satisfied different aspects of the artist's personal and professional needs and how O'Keeffe gradually transformed these Spanish Pueblo Revival style houses to reflect her modernist aesthetic.

Since the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991, questions of identity have dominated the culture not only of Russia, but of all the countries of the former Soviet bloc. This timely collection examines the ways in which cultural activities such as fiction, TV, cinema, architecture and exhibitions have addressed these questions and also describes other cultural flashpoints, from attitudes to language to the use of passports. It discusses definitions of political and cultural nationalism, as well as the myths, institutions and practices that moulded and expressed national identity. From post-Soviet recollections of food shortages to the attempts by officials to control popular religion, it analyses a variety of unexpected and compelling topics to offer fresh insights about this key area of world culture. Illustrated with numerous photographs, it presents the results of recent research in an accessible and lively way.

Make your Mark is divided into three: 'Draw', 'Paint', 'Make'. It celebrates and discusses the work of forty-five urban artists, extraordinarily diverse but united by one basic principle: their work is completely fresh, original and the epitome of creativity - the perfect antidote to the jaded imagery that fills our streets and our media. The names - 44 Flavours from Germany, Bault from France, Morcky from Italy, Ricardo Cavolo from Spain, Zio Ziegler from the USA, Fuco Ueda from Japan, Raymond Lemstra from the Netherlands, Joao Ruas from Brazil and many others - will be unfamiliar to most; the talent they display, indisputable, courageous, always distinctive, is a joy.

Inspired bya private archive and including contemporary work by artists who acknowledge the continued relevance of Angela Davis's experience and politics, the essays, interviews, and images in this book provide a compelling and layered narrative of her journey through the junctures of race, gender, economic and political policy. Beginning with the arrest, trial, and acquittal of Davis, 1970-72, and continuing through her world tour to thank those who joined in demanding her release and her influential career as a public intellectual, the book examines fifty years of history in light of the current political moment. Profusely illustrated with materials found in the archive (press coverage, photographs, court sketches, videos, music, writings, correspondence, and Davis's political writings), the book includes an interview with Angela Davis and Lisbet Tellefsen, the archivist who collected these materials, as well as essays that ouch on visibililty and invisibility, history, memory, and the iconography of black radical feminism.

"Doing is living. That is all that matters."-Ruth Asawa Throughout her long and prolific career American artist Ruth Asawa (1926-2013) developed innovative sculptures in wire, a medium she explored through increasingly complex forms using craft-based techniques she learned while traveling in Mexico in 1947. In 1949, after studying at Black Mountain College, Asawa moved to San Francisco and created dozens of wire works, among them an iconic bronze fountain-the first of many public commissions-for the city's Ghirardelli Square. Bringing together examples from across Asawa's full and extraordinary career, this expansive volume serves as an unprecedented reorientation of her sculptures within the historical context of 20th-century art. In particular, it includes careful consideration of Asawa's advocacy for arts education in public schools, while simultaneously focusing on her vital-and long under-recognized-contributions to the field of sculpture. Insightful essays explore the intersection of formal experimentation and identity to offer a fresh assessment of this celebrated artist. Richly illustrated with exquisite new installation views, Ruth Asawa: Life's Work introduces original scholarship that traces the dynamic evolution of form in the artist's work.

London is full of landmarks that you'll be very familiar with. From the historic St Paul's Cathedral and Tower Bridge to the modern-day architecture of The Shard. It is a city that is forever changing and full of surprises around every corner. But there are a few corners you will never see without looking through the eyes of this book. It will show you a reimagined version of these famous landmarks that will make you question what you see and have you asking, what is real? In this book, London towers transform into giant robots, stars are born from flowers, gateways to other worlds open up through the London Eye and show you a different reality. Every image in this book will show you a surreal version of London, taking you on a visual journey through the city you thought you knew.

The Art & Times of Daniel Jocz presents the entrancing and challenging work of American jewellery artist and sculptor Daniel Jocz. There is a spontaneous quality to the work, yet it is always rich with meaning. His open spirit is fully embodied in the 2007 neckpiece series An American's Riff on the Millstone Ruff. Inspired by the extravagant scale of 17th-century Dutch ruffs at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, he decided to update them with automobile paint. Jeannine Falino takes an in-depth look at the twists and turns of Jocz's long career, from his early geometric sculptures to the fashion-forward flocked Candy Wear collection, and from his ruminations on Marlene Dietrich in the form of necklaces featuring enamel smoked cigarettes to the wall reliefs he explores today. Wendy Steiner considers Jocz's place in the avant-garde through the lens of fashion and culture, while Patricia Harris and David Lyon explore his involvement in the rollicking Boston jewellery scene of the late 20th century.

A stunning look at the profound impact of the jet plane on the mid-century aesthetic, from Disneyland to Life magazine Vanessa R. Schwartz engagingly presents the jet plane's power to define a new age at a critical moment in the mid-20th century, arguing that the craft's speed and smooth ride allowed people to imagine themselves living in the future. Exploring realms as diverse as airport architecture, theme park design, film, and photography, Schwartz argues that the jet created an aesthetic that circulated on the ground below. Visual and media culture, including Eero Saarinen's airports, David Bailey's photographs of the jet set, and Ernst Haas's experiments in color photojournalism glamorized the imagery of motion. Drawing on unprecedented access to the archives of The Walt Disney Studios, Schwartz also examines the period's most successful example of fluid motion meeting media culture: Disneyland. The park's dedication to "people-moving" defined Walt Disney's vision, shaping the very identity of the place. The jet age aesthetic laid the groundwork for our contemporary media culture, in which motion is so fluid that we can surf the internet while going nowhere at all.

Colombia's contemporary art scene - one of the most vibrant in Latin America - nevertheless remains relatively undocumented outside that country. With profiles of 90 key players and four critical essays, Contemporary Art Colombia captures the renewed dynamism of the Colombian art world. Contemporary Art Colombia features the key figures, museums and spaces so integral to the booming Colombian art scene, including public institutions such as the Museo del Banco de la Republica in Bogota and the Medellin Museo de Arte Moderno; private initiatives such as Art Fair ArtBo; private institutions such as Flora and Fundacion Misol; commercial galleries such as Bogota-based Casas Riegner and Instituto de Vision; artists such as Doris Salcedo, Carlos Motta, Edinson Quinones, and Oscar Munoz; and well-established figures like Celia de Birbragher, the founder and editor of Latin America's leading art magazine, ArtNexus.

In Consuming Stories, Rebecca Peabody uses the work of contemporary American artist Kara Walker to investigate a range of popular storytelling traditions with roots in the nineteenth century and ramifications in the present. Focusing on a few key pieces that range from a wall-size installation to a reworked photocopy in an artist's book and from a theater curtain to a monumental sculpture, Peabody explores a significant yet neglected aspect of Walker's production: her commitment to examining narrative depictions of race, gender, power, and desire. Consuming Stories considers Walker's sustained visual engagement with literary genres such as the romance novel, the neo-slave narrative, and the fairy tale and with internationally known stories including Roots, Beloved, and Uncle Tom's Cabin. Walker's interruption of these familiar works , along with her generative use of the familiar in unexpected and destabilizing ways, reveals the extent to which genre-based narrative conventions depend on specific representations of race, especially when aligned with power and desire. Breaking these implicit rules makes them visible-and, in turn, highlights viewers' reliance on them for narrative legibility. As this study reveals, Walker's engagement with narrative continues beyond her early silhouette work as she moves into media such as film, video, and sculpture. Peabody also shows how Walker uses her tools and strategies to unsettle cultural histories abroad when she works outside the United States. These stories, Peabody reminds us, not only change the way people remember history but also shape the entertainment industry. Ultimately, Consuming Stories shifts the critical conversation away from the visual legacy of historical racism toward the present-day role of the entertainment industry-and its consumers-in processes of racialization.

Art is big business, with some artists able to command huge sums of money for their works, while the vast majority are ignored or dismissed by critics. This book shows that these marginalized artists, the
"dark matter" of the art world, are essential to the survival of the mainstream and that they frequently organize in opposition to it.
Gregory Sholette, a politically engaged artist, argues that imagination and creativity in the art world originate thrive in the non-commercial sector shut off from prestigious galleries and champagne receptions. This broader creative culture feeds the mainstream with new forms and styles that can be commodified and used to sustain the few artists admitted into the elite.
This dependency, and the advent of inexpensive communication, audio and video technology, has allowed this "dark matter" of the alternative art world to increasingly subvert the mainstream and intervene politically as both new and old forms of non-capitalist, public art. This book is essential for anyone interested in interventionist art, collectivism, and the political economy of the art world.

Joachim Capdevila (b. 1944) is a master of the art of goldsmithing, whose understanding of how to meld traditional handcraft with contemporary avant-garde jewellery is second to none. At the same time, his roots, which lie in painting, are unmistakable. Yet Capdevila does not just paint metal; his one-off jewellery pieces are rather the materialisation of a creative process in which metal and colour combine to become a completely new entity. The Barcelona-based jewellery artist has created a unique oeuvre in some fifty years, which is now being presented in a 175-piece-strong review for the very first time. In addition, Pilar Velez explores Capdevila's artistic development and his role as a pioneer and a major proponent of New Jewellery in Europe. Joaquim Capdevila is represented in numerous museums, including the Schmuckmuseum Pforzheim (DE), Museum fur Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg (DE), MAK Museum of Applied Arts / Contemporary Art, Vienna (AT), Musee Olympique, Lausanne (CH), Royal Museums of Scotland, Edinburgh (GB), Collection de la Ville de Cagnes-sur-Mer (FR), Col.- leccio d Art de l Avui, Barcelona (ES), Museu de Montserrat (ES), Museu del Disseny de Barcelona (ES), Dallas Museum of Art, Rose-Asenbaum Collection (US).

With Art in a Disrupted World, art historian Agata Pietrasik presents a study of artistic practices that emerged in Poland during and after World War II. Pietrasik highlights examples of artworks by a number of Polish-born artists that were created in concentration camps and ghettos, in exile, and during the years of social, political, and cultural disintegration immediately following the war. She draws attention to the ethics of artistic practice as a method of fighting to preserve one's own humanity amid even the most dehumanizing circumstances. Breaking out of entrenched historical timelines and traditional forms of narration, this book brings together drawings, paintings, architectural designs, and exhibitions, as well as literary and theatrical works created in this time period, to tell the story of Polish life in wartime. Employing an accessible, essayistic style, Pietrasik offers a new look at life in the ten years following the outbreak of World War II and features artists-including Marian Bogusz, Jadwiga Simon-Pietkiewicz, and Jozef Szajna-whose work has not yet found substantial audiences in the English-speaking world. Her reading of the art and artists of this period strives to capture their autonomous artistic language and poses critical questions about the ability of traditional art history writing to properly accommodate artworks created in direct response to traumatic experiences.

Although race - a concept of human difference that establishes hierarchies of power and domination - has played a critical role in the development of modern architectural discourse and practice since the Enlightenment, its influence on the discipline remains largely underexplored. This volume offers a welcome and long-awaited intervention for the field by shining a spotlight on constructions of race and their impact on architecture and theory in Europe and North America and across various global contexts since the eighteenth century. Challenging us to write race back into architectural history, contributors confront how racial thinking has intimately shaped some of the key concepts of modern architecture and culture over time, including freedom, revolution, character, national and indigenous style, progress, hybridity, climate, representation, and radicalism. By analyzing how architecture has intersected with histories of slavery, colonialism, and inequality - from eighteenth-century neoclassical governmental buildings to present-day housing projects for immigrants - Race and Modern Architecture challenges, complicates, and revises the standard association of modern architecture with a universal project of emancipation and progress.

A daring reassessment of Louise Nevelson, an icon of twentieth-century art whose innovative procedures relate to gendered, classed, and racialized forms of making In this radical rethinking of the art of Louise Nevelson (1899–1988), Julia Bryan-Wilson provides a long-overdue critical account of a signature figure in postwar sculpture. A Ukraine-born Jewish immigrant, Nevelson persevered in the male-dominated New York art world. Nonetheless, her careful procedures of construction—in which she assembled found pieces of wood into elaborate structures, usually painted black—have been little studied. Organized around a series of key operations in Nevelson’s own process (dragging, coloring, joining, and facing), the book comprises four slipcased, individually bound volumes that can be read in any order. Both form and content thus echo Nevelson’s own modular sculptures, the gridded boxes of which the artist herself rearranged. Exploring how Nevelson’s making relates to domesticity, racialized matter, gendered labor, and the environment, Bryan-Wilson offers a sustained examination of the social and political implications of Nevelson’s art. The author also approaches Nevelson’s sculptures from her own embodied subjectivity as a queer feminist scholar. She forges an expansive art history that places Nevelson’s assemblages in dialogue with a wide array of marginalized worldmaking and underlines the artist’s proclamation of allegiance to blackness.