"Walking between these figures feels like an interruption; being a spectator is itself a performance. They seem to know more than we do, about the status of being an artwork and the place of the viewer. The joke, if there is one, is on us." - The Guardian Munoz's revolutionary oeuvre creates emotional and evocative narratives through sculpture, installation, drawing, writing, and sound. Situating viewers between his work and amongst each other, he creates an intimacy between works of art and viewers. Munoz thought deeply about art history and in particular the tradition of Spanish painting. Before his untimely death at the age of forty-eight, he produced an extensive, powerfully evocative body of work that uniquely explores the narrative and philosophical possibilities of art. Published on the occasion of the two-floor exhibition at David Zwirner in New York in 2022, this catalogue provides an expansive overview of Munoz's career from the 1980s onwards. In an accompanying text, art historian and curator Guillaume Kientz contextualizes Munoz's influences within the art-historical canon. Acclaimed writer Siri Hustvedt writes a thoughtful response to the artist's iconic Conversation Piece. In an imagined interview between Munoz and himself, Maurizio Cattelan further propels the artist's artistic momentum and potential in the time before his death. Also featured is a never-before-published interview between Munoz and the art historian Michael Brenson that took place in 2000, less than one year prior to his untimely death.

Exploring the little-known drawing practice of a late giant of Spanish sculpture Juan Munoz (1953-2001) was a Spanish artist and self-described "storyteller" who worked primarily as a sculptor. Best known for his unsettling papier-mache characters that seem to be caught in the middle of an action suspended in time, Munoz made remarkable and pioneering breaks from the traditional and formal language of sculpture by introducing narrative elements into his work. This is the first overview of Munoz's little-known work in illustration, featuring his drawings and works on paper held by museum and gallery collections across Europe and the United States. With critical texts and essays to accompany the works, this volume contextualizes the artist's drawing practice both within his larger oeuvre and the influence of 18th- and 19th-century European and Spanish drawing traditions.