Illuminating the dark side of the American century, The Monster Show uncovers the surprising links between horror entertainment and the great social crises of our time, as well as horror's function as a pop-cultural counterpart to surrealism, expressionism, and other twentieth-century artistic movements.

Skal explores a broad landscape of cultural expression—from painting, photography, and theater to television, comic books, and novels. Ultimately focusing on film, he examines the many ways in which this medium has played out the traumas of two world wars and the Depression; the nightmare visions of invasion and mind control engendered by the Cold War; the preoccupation with demon children and mutants that took hold as thalidomide, birth control, and abortion changed the reproductive landscape; the vogue in body-transforming special effects that paralleled the development of the plastic surgery industry; the link between the AIDS epidemic and a renewed fascination with vampires; and much more. With a new Afterword by the author that looks at horror's popular renaissance in the last decade, The Monster Show is a thought-provoking inquiry into America's obsession with the macabre.

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.

Illustrated essays that broaden our understanding of modernism by centering Black artists and experiences, with a contribution featuring the work of Venice Biennale Golden Lion winner Simone Leigh In this volume, ten leading scholars examine the contradictions of modernity and Black agency that continue to define the Western art world. Illustrated essays explore the work of artists such as Roy DeCarava, Ben Enwonwu, James Hampton, Norman Lewis, Nancy Elizabeth Prophet, Augusta Savage, and Carrie Mae Weems, always with an eye toward reframing our understanding of Black artistic producers. The interdisciplinary avenues of inquiry remake the boundaries of modernist art—its notions time and again focused on the singular white male European or American artist—with another set of imperatives, ethics, and histories, broadening our understanding of the past and present of modernism. Published by the National Gallery of Art, Center for Advanced Study in the Visual Arts/Distributed by Yale University Press

For more than ten years, the internationally oriented Daimler Art Collection has committed itself to presenting and promoting South African artists. Highly regarded both in South Africa and beyond, its Mercedes-Benz Award has been awarded to authors, musicians, artists, architects, and fashion designers whose works have been prominently displayed in galleries and at biennials worldwide, including Germany's Documenta exhibition--widely regarded as one of the most important gatherings in contemporary art.
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Ampersand" presents more than fifty works of contemporary South African photography, sculpture, video art, and installation pieces side by side with selected works from the Daimler Art Collection, bringing together a startling array of talent, including established artists like Robert Filliou, Jan Henderikse, Sue Williamson, and Willem Boshoff as well as promising representatives of the younger generation.

This beautiful and informative volume illustrates the vitality and importance of North Carolina's contemporary art scene, showcasing the creation, collection, and celebration of art in all its richness and diversity. Featuring profiles of individual artists, compelling interviews, and beautiful full-color photography, this book tells the story of the state's evolution through the lens of its art world and some of its most compelling figures. Liza Roberts introduces readers to painters, photographers, sculptors, and other artists who live and work in North Carolina and who contribute to its growing reputation in the visual arts. Roberts also provides fascinating historical context, such as the influence of Black Mountain College, the birth and growth of Penland School of Crafts, and short histories of North Carolina's art museums, including Charlotte's Mint Museum, Raleigh's North Carolina Museum of Art, Winston-Salem's Reynolda House, and those flourishing at universities. Artists featured include Stephen Hayes, Mel Chin, Cristina Cordova, Beverly McIver, and Scott Avett. The result is the most comprehensive, informative, and visually rich story of contemporary art in North Carolina.

The enmeshment of the human body with various forms of technology is a phenomenon that characterises lived and imagined experiences in Russian arts of the modernist and postmodernist eras. In contrast to the post-revolutionary fixation on mechanical engineering, industrial progress, and the body as a machine, the postmodern, post-industrial period probes the meaning of being human not only from a physical, bodily perspective, but also from the philosophical perspectives of subjectivity and consciousness. The Human Reimagined examines the ways in which literary and artistic representations of the body, selfhood, subjectivity, and consciousness illuminate late- and post-Soviet ideas about the changing relationships among the individual, the environment, technology, and society.

Here is what happens when Jeff Koons, one of the most important and controversial artists of the twenty-first century, sits down with distinguished art curator Sir Norman Rosenthal. Published to coincide with his 2014 2015 retrospective, this new book provides the most revealing portrait that exists of Jeff Koons singular personality and artistic vision as he discusses works across his thirty-five -year career with his long-time friend and collaborator Rosenthal. Rosenthal s masterful interviews, conducted over three years, give unparalleled access to the thoughts of one of the most influential minds in contemporary culture, disclosing the artist undistorted and in his own words. As well as examining all his major series in depth, from his first inflatables to his latest series on antiquities, the interviews shed new light on the artist s interest in other artists works, reveal the significance of his youth and family life on his art, and explain the key concepts of his practice, such as his ideas on self-acceptance, ecstasy and sex. A book of historic importance, extensively and comprehensively illustrated throughout, it will become the reference point for all who want to understand Koons and creativity in the twenty-first century."

The definitive monograph on the iconoclastic painter George Condo. With his arresting, unsettling style, George Condo emerged out of the dynamism of the New York art scene in the early 1980s, and he has been restlessly painting, drawing and sculpting - bringing forms into the world in one way or another - ever since. With his 'fake' Old Masters, reconfigured Manets, impossibly intricate paintings that seem abstract only from a distance, fractured and multifaceted 'psychologically Cubist' portraits, and the orgiastic misdemeanours of a host of butlers, bankers and priests, Condo has invented, mastered and expanded not just one painterly language but an entire lexicon. Working closely with Condo, Simon Baker has combined biographical, chronological and thematic approaches to survey the artist's work and career to date. An introductory essay on Condo's contradictory nature and a chapter exploring his phenomenal early career are followed by three thematic chapters that look at the years from 1984 to the present, tracing Condo's systematic reconstruction of the techniques of painting, exploring his relationship to the concept of abstraction, and probing the darker side of his psychological iconography in drawing, painting, sculpture and writing. George Condo is the definitive monograph about a unique artist that will appeal to artists, art students and those with a general interest in art.

Let Alice, the Mad Hatter, and the Queen of Hearts guide your tarot practice with this beautifully illustrated tarot deck inspired by Disney's classic animated film Alice in Wonderland. Experience the magic of Disney's Alice in Wonderland like never before in this enchanting and delightfully unique take on the traditional 78-card tarot deck. This set features beloved characters from Alice to the Cheshire Cat to the White Rabbit and more in gorgeous original illustrations based on classic tarot iconography. Featuring both major and minor arcana, the set also comes with a helpful guidebook explaining each card's meaning, as well as simple instructions for easy readings. Packaged in a sturdy, decorative gift box, this charming tarot deck is the perfect gift for the Alice in Wonderland fan or tarot enthusiast. ORIGINAL ART: The booklet and each of the 78 cards in this deck feature never-before-seen original Alice in Wonderland-themed art. GUIDEBOOK INCLUDED: This unique deck includes a guidebook to help tarot practitioners of all skill levels perform fun and informed readings. BEAUTIFUL GIFT: The tarot deck and guidebook are packaged in a deluxe gift box perfect for gift giving. OFFICIAL DISNEY DECK: The only official Disney Alice in Wonderland tarot deck and guide. 70th ANNIVERSARY: This deck is the perfect way to celebrate 70 years of the beloved Disney film.

This almanac of overlooked vintage subject matter has an emphasis on art, design, photography and culture. With an extensive array of rare images, Outr Journal presents a curated compendium of the unusual that takes its cues from cabinets of curiosities and journals of miscellany such as The Saturday Book of old. The focus on underground topics and pop culture extends across time and continents to include highlights such as: religious architecture in the Space Age, found photos and images of masked people, Satan, pop culture and many more.

Presenting unique and in-depth collaborations and editions with leading international artists, Parkett #58 features the work of Sylvie Fleury, Jason Rhoades, and James Rosenquist, three artists who work with everyday matter to produce lively and expressive paintings and installations. Contributing writers include Adrian Dannatt, Jutta Koether, and Beatrix Ruff on Fleury; Russell Ferguson, Roberto Ohrt, and a conversation between Christian Scheidemann & Eve Meyer-Hermann on Rhoades; and Constance Glenn, Pontus Hulten, Michael Lobel, John Russell, and Zdenek Felix on Rosenquist with a conversation between Jeff Koons and Rosenquist. The issue also contains essays on Hans Peter Kuhn, Jane & Louise Wilson, and an interview with Chris Ofili by Paul Miller. Parkett #59, featuring collaborations with Maurizio Cattelan, Yayoi Kusama, and Kara Walker, will include essays by Francesco Bonami on Cattelan; Midori Matsui on Kusama; and Hamza Walker and Elizabeth Janus on Walker, among others. In addition, the issue will feature articles on Anna Gaskell and Annette Messager. Parkett #60 will be published in December, 2000.

From essays on gender in the work of Louise Bourgeois to a review of Art Spiegelman's comix memoir Maus, Writings on Art is expertly curated from his prolific output and illustrated with 175 images to accompany the texts. Written with Storr's signature intellect and wit, the book is the definitive collection of his multi-faceted writing and features the best of Storr's criticism, reviews, essays, and other writings from the 1980s to the mid 2000s. A must read for curators, students, artists, exhibition-goers and all those interested in the art and culture of today.

In this major monograph on Grayson Perry, now updated and expanded, writer and art historian Jacky Klein explores the artist's work through a discussion of his major themes and subjects. Klein's text is complemented by intimate and perceptive commentaries by Perry on individual pieces, giving unique access to his imaginative world and creative processes. This third edition not only has updates throughout, but also includes two new chapters, on the 'House for Essex', designed and built in 2015 with Living Architecture (a UK not-for-profit holiday rental company founded by philosopher and writer Alain de Botton, which aims to promote, educate and enhance appreciation of modern architecture), and on 'Identity Politics', covering new work made since the previous edition of this book was published in 2013.

A complete and in-depth look at the art of the newest Star Trek trilogy. Covering the creation of Star Trek (2009), Star Trek Into Darkness and Star Trek Beyond, this lavish art book contains never-before-seen concept art and designs, as well as interviews with the key creatives who helped bring these exciting movies to life on the big screen.

Rewrites our understanding of the last 50 years of Chicana/o cultural production. Chicana/o Remix casts new light not only on artists-such as Sandra de la Loza, Judy Baca, and David Botello, among others-but on the exhibitions that feature their work, and the collectors, curators, critics, and advocates who engage it. Combining feminist theory, critical ethnic studies, art historical analysis, and extensive archival and field research, Karen Mary Davalos argues that narrow notions of identity, politics, and aesthetics limit our ability to understand the full capacities of Chicana/o art. She employs fresh vernacular concepts such as the "errata exhibit," or the staging of exhibits that critically question mainstream art museums, and the "remix," or the act of bringing new narratives and forgotten histories from the background and into the foreground. These concepts, which emerge out of art practice itself, drive her analysis and reinforce the rejection of familiar narratives that evaluate Chicana/o art in simplistic, traditional terms, such as political versus commercial, or realist versus conceptual. Throughout Chicana/o Remix, Davalos explores undocumented or previously ignored information about artists, their cultural production, and the exhibitions and collections that feature their work. Each chapter exposes and challenges conventions in art history and Chicana/o studies, documenting how Chicana artists were the first to critically challenge exhibitions of Chicana/o art, tracing the origins of the first Chicano arts organizations, and highlighting the influence of Europe and Asia on Chicana/o artists who traveled abroad. As a leading scholar in the study of Chicana/o artists, art spaces, and exhibition practices, Davalos presents her most ambitious project to date in this re-examination of fifty years of Chicana/o art production.

New York-based Todd James (born 1969) pioneered a distinct cartoon-based graffiti style in New York in the 1980s, working under the name REAS and gaining the respect of both a street-culture audience and the art and design market. He has since produced work for the Beastie Boys, Eminem and Iggy Pop, among others. This unique artist's book is the first publication by James in half a decade, and collects 60 of his drawings, all created exclusively for this volume. Bearing close resemblance to his best-known graffiti work, each drawing is complete unto itself yet also represents a potential painting for the future. "Yield to Temptation" is of a piece with James' broader concerns: American excess as represented by the forms and fictions of sexuality and the ravages of war. James invites his audience to glamorize these issues, even as he undercuts any assumptions about them. His drawings have the expressive, minimal intensity of a cartoon Franz Kline and evoke the Day-Glo era of 1970s print culture, where "Schoolhouse Rock" crosses over into "Playboy" cartoons. "Yield to Temptation" is being published on the occasion of James' solo exhibition in Tokyo.

This comprehensive monograph offers a detailed examination of the paintings of the acclaimed German painter Neo Rauch (b.1960). Rauch's paintings deftly blend the iconography of Socialist Realism from his upbringing and art-school training in GDR-era Leipzig with the stylistic mannerisms of the Baroque and Romantic past, conjuring heavily populated sites of great commotion and complexity, remarkably without recourse to preliminary drawing. His compositions and their enigmatic figures are rich with reference and allusion, but the stories they tell are indistinct and somehow out of time. They have an ancient modernity - or the freshness of renewed antiquity. Michael Glover discloses Rauch's working methods, revealing how the artist approaches the making of his work, how his images come into being, and the importance of words and their etymology to the creation or disruption of an artwork. These are works that interrogate the very meaning of the artistic impulse; ruminations in the guise of history painting that in fact question what a painter could and should be creating at this particular historical moment.