Curator and historian, gallerist and writer: Klaus Kertess has long been a decisive and forward-thinking presence in the art world. He founded the Bykert Gallery in 1966, where he represented artists including Chuck Close, Ralph Humphrey, Brice Marden and Dorothea Rockburne; three decades later, he curated the 1995 Whitney Biennial, the follow-up to the famously political 1993 iteration. "What is being proposed here," he wrote in a catalogue essay for the 1995 exhibition, "is not a return to formalism but an art in which meaning is embedded in formal value. An acknowledgment of sensuousness is indispensable--whether as play or sheer joy or the kind of subversity that has us reaching for a rose and grabbing a thorn." The art world has changed considerably from the relatively convivial world of the 60s to today's globalized milieu, but Kertess has been a constant throughout the years, curating shows of provocative new work and writing critical essays on artists whose work challenges and engages him, while also maintaining a vital literary sideline (his short stories are collected in 2000's "South Brooklyn Casket Company"). This volume collects Kertess' critical works from the past 30 years, including meditations on Agnes Martin, Joan Mitchell, John Chamberlain, Vija Celmins, Chris Ofili and Matthew Richie. With each essay accompanied by full-color reproductions of works discussed, "Seen, Written" provides a priceless opportunity to see art through the eyes of a lifelong viewer.

This is the definitive monograph of Oehlen's work to date. This XL retrospective explores Albert Oehlen's entire career chronologically and examines his creative process via in-depth texts. Limited to 1,000 copies, each numbered and signed by the artist.Albert Oehlen seeks the limits of painting in his work, challenging viewers to abandon their instinctive expectations. His early work in the late 1970s - when painting was decidedly out of fashion - was associated with a so-called 'bad painting' movement, in that it aimed at challenging ideas about what makes a painting 'good' or 'bad'; a recent exhibition in London was, somewhat ironically, entitled 'I Will Always Champion Good Painting'. With an approach he describes as 'post-non-representational', Oehlen uses painting not only as a way to convey meaning, but also as a means of exploring the function a painting can serve - often a painting's title itself gives the work an entirely new dimension. Never without a touch of tongue-in-cheek humor, his work seems to be winking at us as it dares us to change the way we look at art. Combining subtlety and sophistication with chaos and brutality, Oehlen has left an indelible mark on contemporary painting.This XL monograph explores all groups of Oehlen's work chronologically via genre-oriented approach, such as mud-colored paintings, mirror paintings, computer paintings, and so forth. Like a series of interlocking episodes, the chapters of the book draw the reader into a complex drama of constantly evolving themes. In-depth texts get to the root of Oehlen's creative process, and an exhaustive bibliography and biography round out this comprehensive study. While Oehlen fans will rejoice at the publication of this breathtaking book, no one with an interest in contemporary art can afford pass up this unique opportunity to discover Oehlen's work. And to anyone who says painting is obsolete: we beg to differ. This book is also available in an Art Edition, limited to 100 copies and with an original artwork by Albert Oehlen.