Landon Metz's abstract paintings reflect the artist's deliberate and meditative attention that endures throughout each phase of the artist's process. From stretching canvas to selecting his specific palette to the actual application of paint and subsequent creation of form, the end result of such intense concentration is an energy that seemingly reverberates from Metz's work. Curving forms of mesmerizing color on individual canvasses are often exhibited as diptychs and triptychs, or serially installed next to one another in installations to form a larger dialogue, creating pattern and rhythm. Metz's artworks communicate a contemporary voice engaging directly with the larger dialogue of abstraction's expansive history. The forms and repetition found in nature are often sources of inspiration for Metz, the artist being from Arizona where rock formations shaped over thousands of years are direct examples of the relationship between time, material, and form. This book brings together numerous examples of this young tour de force's elegant oeuvre, while exemplifying the ways in which such a spirit of studied precision and deliberation holds enduring value in a world that seems to move faster with each passing day.

Since the late 1980s, Jim Hodges' poetic reconsiderations of the material world have inspired a body of multimedia work in which the manmade and artificial are invested with emotion and authenticity. Co-published by the Dallas Museum of Art and the Walker Art Center, this volume accompanies the first comprehensive, scholarly exhibition to be organized in the United States of this critically acclaimed American artist. Examining over 25 years of his artistic career, this uniquely designed catalogue weaves together the voices of many to situate the artist's work within issues of identity, social activism, illness, beauty, generosity and death. Contributions include an in-depth overview of Hodges' career by Jeffrey Grove, Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Dallas Museum of Art; an essay and interview with the artist by Olga Viso, Executive Director of the Walker Art Center; a reflection on Hodges' early artistic development by Bill Arning, Director of the Contemporary Arts Museum, Houston; an essay on sentimentality and the artist's recent video work by Helen Molesworth, Barbara Lee Chief Curator at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston; as well as ruminations on recurring motifs in the artist's work by author Susan Griffin.
Born in 1957 in Spokane, Washington, New York-based artist Jim Hodges has been featured in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the U.S. and in Europe, including the 2004 Whitney Biennial and a solo exhibition at the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. Hodges' work is included in the collections of notable institutions, among them the Dallas Museum of Art; the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, MN; The Art Institute of Chicago; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Philadelphia Museum of Art; the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.

Hugo McCloud's artistic practice developed through his tireless experimentation with materials. The artist finds beauty in the everyday - thus disposable bags, aluminum plates, or bronze panels treated with acid turn into artistic tools. What is unique is not only his inventiveness, but also the broad range of themes he outlines with his art. Hugo McCloud finds expression for social and political problems through his media. He dissects and explores materials and makes them appear in a completely new light. McCloud, who came to art as a self-taught artist, has created a remarkable oeuvre to date, which is now illustrated in this survey publication.

Statistics show that African American males have higher rates of death by firearm, incarceration, unemployment, and relatively low levels of college graduation in comparison to White males. This book is to give insight into the lives of Black families to help educators, parents, and community members develop best practices in raising, educating, and protecting young Black males. A Black Parent's Memoir shares a lot of great advice from parents raising African American children and you can read the text numerous times and learn something new each time. In fact, the authors encourage you to reference this text often as a reminder to be the best parent or educator that you can be.

In a practice spanning nearly two decades, Jose Dávila has created an expressive body of work that explores the visual tropes and iconic symbols of art, architecture, and urban design. Initially trained as an architect and self-educated as a visual artist, Dávila creates sculptures, installations and photographic works that simultaneously emulate, critique, and pay homage to 20th-century avant-garde art and architecture, referencing artists and architects from Luis Barragán to Josef Albers and Donald Judd. Humor and melancholy co-mingle in works that often explore the tension between industrial and organic materials and the forces of compression and balance. This monograph assesses the full scope of Dávila’s practice in all media for the first time, and includes texts attesting to the historical and social dimensions of Dávila’s art. Essays address the artist’s early pieces, his exercises on balance, sculpture, graphics and paintings, and his works in public space.