Something strange is going on in the photographs by Frank Kunert (*1963 in Frankfurt am Main): the table set for two has been so cleverly built around a corner that neither of the diners has to see the other, yet they can both watch their own television. Or a desk has a built-in bed for the much-desired office nap. And the outdoor toilet is located further away than one might hope for in an emergency-namely, on the moon. Kunert, a model builder and photographer, creates images of this kind in weeks of painstaking attention to detail, lending expression to the grotesque outgrowths of civilized life that is as humorous and exhilarating as it is profound. The ambivalence between tragedy and humor piques the artist time and again and permeates his surreal-looking visual worlds in an inexhaustible variety of ways. Melancholy and skewed wit are closely related in this wonderland of absurdities-surprising and thought provoking.

The decade of the 1990s was one of the most turbulent periods in recent Mexican history marked by political assassinations, the Zapatista uprising in Chiapas, the signing of NAFTA, a catastrophic economic crisis, and the defeat of the PRI after seventy years of one-party rule. How did art respond to these events? To answer this question, Gallo examines some of the most radical artistic experiments produced in this period, from Daniela Rossell's photographs of Mexican millionaires to Teresa Margolles's manipulations of human remains, from Santiago Sierra's controversial work with human subjects to Vicente Razo's creation of a Salinas museum.

A timely exploration of the allusive, sculptural fiber work of an important contemporary South African artist The book presents an early career survey of the work of Cape Town-based artist Igshaan Adams (b. 1982), showcasing his multimedia practice since 2009. In addition to exploring recurring motifs in his work-Arabic calligraphy, the rose, the (self-)portrait, Sufi symbols, and pathways literal and metaphorical-the publication highlights some of Adams's material concerns, including his sculptural applications of weaving, his embrace of recycled materials related to black South African domesticity and interiority, and his use of the gallery wall and floor in installations. Hendrik Folkerts surveys the artist's recent work, addressing its engagement with presence, absence, and the trace.. Adams himself offers a visual essay enabling readers to see details they would be imperceptible in a gallery setting. In shorter essays and poetic texts, the other authors focus on the South African historical and political context, specific artworks, and particular creative strategies, materialities, and narratives. Distributed for the Art Institute of Chicago Exhibition Schedule: Art Institute of Chicago (April 2-August 1, 2022)

The first-ever monograph on Reynaud-Dewar, one of today’s most celebrated multimedia artists

French artist Lili Reynaud-Dewar creates environments and situations in which she uses her own body to examine the dual experience of vulnerability and empowerment that results from acts of exposing oneself to the world. Evolving through a range of media such as performance, video, installation, sound, and literature, her work considers the fluid border between public and private space, challenging conventions related to the body, sexuality, power relations, and institutional spaces. This is the first book to document her remarkable career.

Contemporary Art and Anthropology takes a new and exciting approach to representational practices within contemporary art and anthropology. Traditionally, the anthropology of art has tended to focus on the interpretation of tribal artifacts but has not considered the impact such art could have on its own ways of making and presenting work. The potential for the contemporary art scene to suggest innovative representational practices has been similarly ignored. This book challenges the reluctance that exists within anthropology to pursue alternative strategies of research, creation and exhibition, and argues that contemporary artists and anthropologists have much to learn from each others' practices. The contributors to this pioneering book consider the work of artists such as Susan Hiller, Francesco Clemente and Rimer Cardillo, and in exploring topics such as the possibility of shared representational values, aesthetics and modernity, and tattooing, they suggest productive new directions for practices in both fields.

A Western Marxist reading of contemporary art, focusing on the question of the continued presence (or absence) of the avant-garde's transgressive impulse. Taking art's ability to contribute to radical social transformation as its point of departure, Mikkel Bolt Rasmussen's new title from Zero Books analyses the relationship between the current neoliberal hegemony and contemporary art, including relational aesthetics and interventionist art, new institutionalism and post-modern architecture. '...a trenchant critique of neoliberal domination of contemporary art.' Gene Ray, author of Terror and the Sublime in Art and Critical Theory

'Like Salvador Dali's confessions, only far funnier and more self-deprecating, Dandy in the Underworld entertains as much as it revolts, is as tender as it is shocking, and as genuine as it is false.' Independent Sure to shock and surprise, Sebastian Horsley recounts his life story with excruciating self-knowledge and a savage wit. 'One of the funniest, strangest and most revolting memoirs ever written.' Sunday Times Growing up at High Hall, in Hull, with his alcoholic mother, who regularly attempted suicide, his stepfather, a cult member dressed in orange, and his father, a crippled millionaire, Sebastian Horsley couldn't wait to leave home. Searching for happiness, meaning and a good outfit he embarked on a doomed career as a punk guitarist, had a stormy relationship with a notorious Scottish gangster, enjoyed a wildly successful period as a stock-market entrepeneur and experienced a near fatal stint as a shark-hunter. Sebastian charts his years as a dandy, an artist, a male escort and a brothel connoisseur. There are the love affairs, with Rachel 1 and Rachel 2, and a harrowing descent into heroin and crack addiction. Dandy in the Underworld evokes his desperate attempts to get clean, culminating in his crucifixion in the Philippines.

This book examines a range of visual expressions of Black Power across American art and popular culture from 1965 through 1972. It begins with case studies of artist groups, including Spiral, OBAC and AfriCOBRA, who began questioning Western aesthetic traditions and created work that honored leaders, affirmed African American culture, and embraced an African lineage. Also showcased is an Oakland Museum exhibition of 1968 called "New Perspectives in Black Art," as a way to consider if Black Panther Party activities in the neighborhood might have impacted local artists' work. The concluding chapters concentrate on the relationship between selected Black Panther Party members and visual culture, focusing on how they were covered by the mainstream press, and how they self-represented to promote Party doctrine and agendas.

The Young British Artists (YBAs) stormed on to the contemporary art scene in 1988 with their attention-grabbing, ironic art. They exploded art-world conventions with brazen disdain. Dismissed as trivial gimmickry and praised for its witty energy, their art made a mark both on the art scene and on public consciousness that continues to reverberate today. Now, almost three decades after they emerged, Artrage! tells the story of the YBAs with the benefit of perspective, chronicling the group's rise to prominence from the landmark show `Freeze' curated by Damien Hirst, through the heyday of the 1990s and the notorious `Sensation' exhibition, to the Momart fire of 2004 that seemed to symbolize the group's fading from centre stage. The book ends with an update on the artists' careers and fortunes in the last decade. Drawing on interviews with all the key BritArt players and extensive archival research, Elizabeth Fullerton examines the individual characters, their relationships to one another, crucial events and seminal artworks, considering, too, the political, economic and artistic context of those years. Plentiful quotations bring out the distinctive personalities and provide fresh insights into the people and the period. Among the artists discussed are Damien Hirst, Rachel Whiteread, Tracey Emin, Jake and Dinos Chapman, Sarah Lucas and Gary Hume.

This book investigates how British contemporary artists who work with clay have managed, in the space of a single generation, to take ceramics from niche-interest craft to the pristine territories of the contemporary art gallery. This development has been accompanied (and perhaps propelled) by the kind of critical discussion usually reserved for the 'higher' discipline of sculpture. Ceramics is now encountering and colliding with sculpture, both formally and intellectually. Laura Gray examines what this means for the old hierarchies between art and craft, the identity of the potter, and the character of a discipline tied to a specific material but wanting to participate in critical discussions that extend far beyond clay.

This new title celebrates 50 years of the creative force of nature that is the artistic partnership of Gilbert & George. Published in cooperation with the LUMA Foundation in Arles, France, on the occasion of their retrospective exhibition on show from 2 July to 23 September 2018. The book will feature five interviews with Gilbert & George by Hans Ulrich Obrist and Daniel Birnbaum, one for each decade of their practice. This title will be heavily illustrated with examples of Gilbert & George's artworks from their early years to their most recent series. Designed by Gilbert & George themselves, The Great Exhibition will feature their trademark style and panache. Introduced by a text co-authored by Obrist and Birnbaum, this publication will also feature several extracts from Michael Bracewell's 2017 publication What is Gilbert & George?. All text will be presented in both French and English.

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.

Landscape architecture is a form of high art for Erik Dhont, who has brought both nuance and sensitivity to various sites. Playing with flowers, grasses, shrubs or trees, he creates unique spaces, structures and textures. His timeless green paradises which are the result of true craftsmanship, are deeply rooted in the European garden tradition. They stand for longevity, evolution, dreams, and life. In this second monograph, Dhont presents his creations from over the last twenty years, combining photographs with abstract drawings, colorful planting plans, and sculptural models that reflect on his artistic approach. Intimate views of seminal creations such as the garden of fashion designer Dries van Noten immerse one into Dhont's creative and sensual universe.

An in-depth look at the work and career of this fascinating artist, who is having a profound impact on contemporary painting Nigel Cooke is known for his complex paintings, which thematically explore the meeting point between creative labour, consciousness, art history, consumer culture, and nature. Primarily centred on meticulously painted, large-scale urban landscapes, which he calls 'hybrid theatrical spaces', Cooke's work employs disparate styles, often integrating trompe l'oeil miniature rocks and trees with backdrops of graffiti-marked buildings, to create scenes conveying obscure and macabre narratives. This survey of Cooke's career to date explores the artist's style, approach, and impact on contemporary art and includes his very latest works, completed shortly before publication.

From an icon of popular culture, here is inspiring advice for artists, graduates, and all who seek happiness and success on their own terms. So what if you have talent? Then what? When John Waters delivered his gleefully subversive advice to the graduates of the Rhode Island School of Design, the speech went viral, in part because it was so brilliantly on point about making a living as a creative person. Now we can all enjoy his sly wisdom in a manifesto that reminds us, no matter what field we choose, to embrace chaos, be nosy, and outrage our critics. Anyone embarking on a creative path, he tells us, would do well to realize that pragmatism and discipline are as important as talent and that rejection is nothing to fear. Waters advises young people to eavesdrop, listen to their enemies, and horrify us with new ideas. In other words, MAKE TROUBLE! Illustrated with slightly demented line drawings by Eric Hanson, Make Trouble is a one-of-a-kind gift, the perfect playbook for gaming the system by making the system work for you.

Denis Wirth-Miller and Dicky Chopping were a couple at the heart of the mid-twentieth century art world, with the visitors' book of the Essex townhouse they shared from 1945 until 2008 painting them as Zeligs of British society. The names recorded inside make up an astonishing supporting cast - from Francis Bacon to Lucian Freud to Randolph Churchill to John Minton. Successful artists, although not household names themselves, writing Dicky and Denis off as just footnotes in history would be a mistake. After Denis's death in 2010, Jon Lys-Turner, one of two executors of the couple's estate, came into possession of an extraordinary archive of letters, works of art and symbolically loaded ephemera the two had collected since they met in the 1930s. It is no exaggeration to state that this archive represents a missing link in British art history - the wealth of new biographical information disclosed about Francis Bacon, for example, is truly staggering. The Visitors' Book is both an extraordinary insight into the minutiae of Dicky and Denis's life together and what it meant to be gay in pre-Wolfenden Britain, as well as a pocket social history of the era and a unique perspective into mid-twentieth century art. With reams of previously unseen material, this is a fascinating and unique opportunity to delve into post-war Britain.

Explore the graphic work of Hundertwasser with this lavishly produced introduction to the artist. Friedensreich Hundertwasser was a painter. He created original graphic works--lithographs, silkscreens, mixed media, etchings, and aquatint as well as Japanese woodcuts. This bibliophilic gem is a Hundertwasser original, the first book designed and laid out by the artist himself. Bound in black linen, foil-embossed, and printed in six colors, this book features illustrations of all 71 of Hundertwasser's graphic works created between 1951 and 1976. Each work is given a full-page and is accompanied by a Hundertwasser poem or quote printed in silver on a black page. The book also contains an introduction and critical texts that make it indispensable for fans of Hundertwasser and lovers of beauty.