Theory of art Books

Book SynopsisTraces the lineage of moving-image installation through architecture, painting, sculpture, performance, expanded cinema, film history, and countercultural film and videoTrade Review[A] wild ride of a book... Elwes has made an admirable assault on the field and I am sure this book will influence generations of students. Art Monthly Fascinating. Cinema TechnologyTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Architecture 2. Painting 3. Sculpture 4. Performance 5. Film History 6. Film as Film 7. Structural Film: Detractions and Revisions 8. The Dialectics of Spectatorship 9. Expanded Cinema 10. Sound 11. Video Installation 12. Closing Thoughts Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAn expert in art therapy offers this “wonderful” guide “for anyone, artistic or not, who is interested in using art to know more about himself or herself” (Library Journal) Making art—giving form to the images that arise in our mind''s eye, our dreams, and our everyday lives—is a form of spiritual practice through which knowledge of ourselves can ripen into wisdom. This book offers encouragement for everyone to explore art-making in this spirit of self-discovery—plus practical instructions on material, methods, and activities, such as ways to:   •  Discover a personal myth or story   •  Recognize patterns and themes in one''s life   •  Identify and release painful memories   •  Combine journaling and image making   •  Practice the ancient skill of active imagination   •  Connect with others through sharing one''s art worksInterwoven with this guidance is the intimate story of the author''s own journey as a student, art therapist, teacher, wife, mother, and artist—and, most of all, as a woman who discovered a profound and healing connection with her soul through making art.

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Book SynopsisA comparative study of early Eastern and Western philosophy. It seeks to prove that the seemingly separate metaphysical schemes of Greek and Indian cultures have mutually influenced one another over a long period of time, to the point that today's Western world is the product of both.

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Book SynopsisIn today''s art world many strange, even shocking, things qualify as art. In this Very Short Introduction Cynthia Freeland explains why innovation and controversy are valued in the arts, weaving together philosophy and art theory with many fascinating examples. She discusses blood, beauty, culture, money, museums, sex, and politics, clarifying contemporary and historical accounts of the nature, function, and interpretation of the arts. Freeland also propels us into the future by surveying cutting-edge web sites, alongside the latest research on the brain''s role in perceiving art. This clear, provocative book engages with the big debates surrounding our responses to art and is an invaluable introduction to anyone interested in thinking about art. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.Trade ReviewMouthwatering design-compact, colorful, sturdy. Can travel in one's pocket. * Walks of Art, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju *Admirable for its compactness, reader-friendliness, this 'very short introduction' is nevertheless notable for its wide-ranging discussion of matters germane to the field of contemporary art. Should be a treat for the art-lovers amongst the academics. * U.S.I. Journal *Table of ContentsList of Illustrations ; 1. Blood and Beauty ; 2. Paradigms and Purposes ; 3. Cultural Crossings ; 4. Money, Markets, Museums ; 5. Gender, Genius, and Guerrilla Girls ; 6. Cognition, Creation, Comprehension ; 7. Digitizing and Disseminating ; Conclusion ; References ; Further Reading ; Index

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Book SynopsisThis popular collection of the best of Art Monthly''s interviews since the magazine''s inception in the early 1970s provides a supplementary history of twentieth-century art, from over 150 perspectives, through discussions between artists and critics.The interviews provide the most immediate access to an artist''s thought processes and offer compelling narratives of changing creative activities. Many leading practitioners from Naum Gabo to Douglas Gordon have been interviewed, often at highly significant moments in their careers.The artist interview has occupied an important position in Art Monthly since its first issue, and the book was first published as part of the magazine''s 30th anniversary celebrations in 2007.

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Book SynopsisProvides lesson after valuable lesson to anyone wishing to know what it means and what it takes to be an artist today. In this book the author gives practical advice and insights gained from his own professional highs and lows. It is a mix of reminiscence, personal philosophy.

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Book SynopsisUsing many examples, this title considers the factors that determine the overall organization of visual form in works of painting, sculpture, and architecture.Trade Review"Arnheim was a distinguished psychologist, philosopher and critic whose work explored the cognitive basis of art—how we interpret it and, by extension, the world." * Cabinet *"It is the balance between the precision of [Arnheim's] specific analyses and their participation in a larger order of principles that makes Power of the Center such a satisfying book." * ARTnews *Table of ContentsIntroduction I. TWO SPATIAL SYSTEMS A master key to composition. Centricity and eccentricity. Vectors and their targets. Interaction of the systems. II. CENTERS AND THEIR RIVALS Geometric and dynamic. The pull of gravity. The visual center underneath. Varieties of weight. Sculpture and the ground. Matisse under pressure. III. THE VIEWER AS A CENTER Self-centered vision. Various positions in space. A slab in suspense. Seeing the world sideways. The viewer as an influence. Looking into depth. IV. LIMITS AND FRAMES Enclosures spread energy. Tampering with the range. The functions of frames. Framed space not quite closed. Rectangular formats. Challenges to the middle. Perspective creates a center. V. TONDO AND SQUARE Floating shapes. Tondi stress the middle. The role of eccentricity. Disks inside. The oval. Squares balance the coordinates. Albers's nests of squares. Mondrian overrides centricity. A square by Munch. VI. CENTERS AS HUBS Providing stability. Tension through deviation. Dynamics of the human figure. Saltimbanques and Guernica. VII. CENTERS AS DIVIDERS Bipolar composition. The necessary latch. Diagonals. Noli me tangere. VIII. VOLUMES AND NODES Volumes and vectors interacting. Kinds of nodes. Nodes of the body. Faces and hands. Singing man. IX. SPACE IN DEPTH Perceiving the third dimension. Objects behaving in space. Enclosures replacing frames. The added view of projection. Continuity of space. What perspective contributes. Time in space. The symbolism of the frontal plane. X. CENTERS AND GRIDS IN BUILDINGS Grids prevail. Design in elevation. Design on the ground. Coping with full space. XI. FURTHERMORE Composition in time. Are there exceptions? A physical foundation. Composition carries meaning. Glossary Bibliography Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisWith an introduction by Hubertus von Amelunxen Media philosopher Vilem Flusser proposed a revolutionary new way of thinking about photography. An analysis of the medium in terms of aesthetics, science and politics provided him with new ways of understanding both the cultural crises of the past and the new social forms nascent within them. Flusser showed how the transformation of textual into visual culture (from the linearity of history into the two-dimensionality of magic) and of industrial into post-industrial society (from work into leisure) went hand in hand, and how photography allows us to read and interpret these changes with particular clarity.Trade ReviewA relatively little-known but significant text. -- Lindsay Smith, The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural StudiesTable of ContentsWith an introduction by Hubertus von Amelunxen

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Book SynopsisLearning to Look at Paintings is an accessible guide to the study and appraisal of paintings, drawings and prints. Mary Acton shows how you can develop visual, analytical and historical skills in learning to look at and understand an image by analysing how it works, what its pictorial elements are and how they relate to each other. This fully revised and updated new edition is illustrated with over 100 images by a wide range of Western European and American artists, ranging from Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Botticelli to Picasso, Matisse and Rothko, and now includes modern and contemporary artists such as Georgia O'Keeffe, Anselm Kiefer, Tacita Dean and Marlene Dumas. In addition, Mary Acton presents new examples highlighting the survival and revival of painting in recent years.A new introduction situates the book in the wider context of recent changes in the approach to Art History. A glossary of critical and technical terms used in the language of Art History is also included, with an updated but still selective reading list. Trade Review'Each of the six chapters has a succint introduction and a short but useful summary... Recommended.' - CHOICE'Each of the six chapters has a succint introduction and a short but useful summary... Recommended.' – CHOICETable of ContentsIntroduction to the Second Edition List of Figures List of Plates Preface Acknowledgements Introduction 1. Composition 2. Space 3. Form 4. Tone 5. Colour 6. Subject Matter 7. Drawing and its Purposes 8. Looking at Prints. Conclusion: The Use of Comparison as an Aid to Looking. Appendix 1: Some Questions to Ask Yourself When Standing in Front of a Painting Appendix 2: Glossary of Art Terms. References and Further Reading. Index

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Book SynopsisThe sequel to the 2014 bestseller (Curating) From A to Z, this book extends the investigation of curatorial practice that the writer, exhibition maker and educator Jens Hoffmann (born 1974) began in the first volume.(Curating) From Z to A offers a summary of the development of curatorial practice over the last two decades as seen through the eyes of one of its leading practitioners. Organized in reverse alphabetical order, each letter of the alphabet evokes a particular word related to the world of exhibition making: from D (Durational) and S (Scenography) to R (Relational) and F (Feminism). Other entries include those dedicated to the Venice Bienniale, Tate, Kunsthalle, Lucy Lippard, Xenophobia, Black Box and Gentrification.

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Book Synopsis"First published in Germany under the title Faces: Eine Geschichte des Gesichts."Trade Review"A compelling study."--ApolloTable of ContentsIntroduction: Defining the Subject 1 I Face and Mask: Changing Views 1 Facial Expression, Masks of the Self, and Roles of the Face 17 2 The Cult Origin of the Mask 32 3 Masks in Colonial Museums 42 4 Face and Mask in the Theater 48 5 From the Study of the Face to Brain Research 63 6 Nostalgia for the Face and the Death Mask in Modernity 77 7 Eulogy for the Face: Rilke and Artaud 84 II Portrait and Mask: The Face as Representation 8 The European Portrait as Mask 91 9 Face and Skull: Two Opposing Views 106 10 The "Real Face" of the Icon and the "Similar Face" 118 11 The Record of Memory and the Speech Act of the Face 126 12 Rembrandt's Self-Portraiture: Revolt against the Mask 135 13 Silent Screams in the Glass Case: The Face Set Free 150 14 Photography and Mask: Jorge Molder's Own Alien Face 157 III Media and Masks: The Production of Faces 15 The Consumption of Media Faces 175 16 Archives: Controlling the Faces of the Crowd 192 17 Video and Live Image: The Flight from the Mask 205 18 Ingmar Bergman and the Face in Film 211 19 Overpainting and Replicating the Face: Signs of Crisis 221 20 Mao's Face: State Icon and Pop Idol 229 21 Cyberfaces: Masks without Faces 239 Acknowledgments 247 Notes 249 Literature Cited 263 Index of Names 267

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Book SynopsisHow do objects that have lost their value become valuable once again?Trade Review'Original, insightful, and entertaining' -- Ian Stewart, author of Seventeen Equations that Changed the World (Profile Books, 2012)'Witty and wide-ranging scholarly scholarly study ... a fascinating contribution to cultural theory' -- The Guardian'A remarkably original and creative book, far ahead of its time. Thompson's analysis is not only a major contribution to the anthropological theorising of waste and value, but it is also highly relevant for the contemporary dilemmas of growth and environmental destruction' -- Thomas Hylland Eriksen, author of Overheating (Pluto, 2016)'Highly recommended' -- CHOICETable of ContentsForeword by Joshua O. Reno Preface Introduction to the New Edition 1. The Filth in the Way 2. Stevengraphs - Yesterday’s Kitsch 3. Rat-infested Slum or Glorious Heritage? 4. From Things to Ideas 5. A Dynamic Theory of Rubbish 6. Art and the Ends of Economic Activity 7. Monster Conservation 8. The Geometry of Credibility 9. The Geometry of Confidence 10. The Needle’s Eye Afterword (co-authored by M. Bruce Beck) Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThis beautiful book offers a striking and unusual view of a wide array of Indian art. It highlights close up and in colour outstanding examples of design, workmanship and craft in dramatic sculptures of metal, stone and wood as well as sumptuous paintings and textiles.Table of ContentsWhat is Indian art? • Gods • Heroes • Devotion • Courtly and village life • Further reading • Glossary • Index

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Book SynopsisSince its publication in 1936, Walter Benjamin's Artwork essay has become a canonical text about the status and place of the fine arts in modern mass culture. Benjamin was especially concerned with the ability of new technologiesnotably film, sound recording, and photographyto reproduce works of art in great number. Benjamin could not have foreseen the explosion of imagery and media that has occurred during the past fifty years. Does Benjamin's famous essay still speak to this new situation? That is the question posed by the editors of this book to a wide range of leading scholars and thinkers across a spectrum of disciplines in the humanities. The essays gathered here do not hazard a univocal reply to that question; rather they offer a rich, wide-ranging critique of Benjamin's position that refracts and reflects contemporary thinking about the ethical, political, and aesthetic implications of life in the digital age.Trade Review"Mapping Benjamin not only distinguishes itself in format, scope, and tone from the mass of Benjamin books published each year, it provides an up-to-date snapshot of the humanities. This lucidly written book uses Benjamin to chart the parameters of a force field of contemporary intellectual efforts, across disciplines and other divides." -Eva Geulen,New York UniversityTable of ContentsContents BAECKER DIRK BOLZ NORBERT SIEGERT BERNHARD BARCK KARLHEINZ GILGEN PETER SHIFF RICHARD MOSER WALTER SCHMIDT SIEGFRIED J. HENNION ANTOINE LATOUR BRUNO LINK JURGEN CHARTIER ROGER LINK-HEER URSULA WATERS LINDSAY ZUMTHOR PAUL ASSMANN ALEIDA ASSMANN JAN HULLOT-KENTOR ROBERT BEHNKE KERSTIN WEIMAR KLAUS RITTER HENNING WENZEL HORST LEWIS PERICLES WERBER NIELS DE CASTRO ROCHA JOAO CEZAR NICHOLS STEPHEN G. NEVILLE BRIAN READINGS BILL FEINSTEIN JOSHUA MENOCAL MARIA ROSA SARLO BEATRIZ HARRISON ROBERT P. BANN STEPHEN

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Book SynopsisIgor Zabel (19582005) was one of Slovenia's foremost curators and writers. Published as a part of JRP Ringier's Documents critical writings series (published with Les presses du reel), this important collection of Zabel's writings--his first in English--serves as a methodology model for research into Eastern European art techniques and practices. The selected texts are divided into four chapters: EastWest and Between, which explores perceptions of otherness following the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989; Strategies and Spaces of Art, which examines strategies of representation and theories of display and the role of the curator; Ad Personam, which includes individual artists and art from Socialist Realism and conceptualism to postmodernism and contextual art, particularly in Slovenia and South Eastern Europe; and Extras, a selection of Zabel's columns on arts and culture.

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Book SynopsisA concise introduction to paintings in the Western European tradition, through the stories of 50 powerful artworks by artists from Van Gogh to da Vinci. How to Read Paintings is a valuable visual guide to Western European painting. Through a gallery of artworks accompanied by informative commentary, it enables you to swiftly develop your understanding of the grammar and vocabulary of painting, and to discover how to look at diverse paintings in detail, closely reading their meanings and methods. In the first part of the book, the author shows you how to read paintings by considering five key areas: shape and support, medium and materials, composition, style and technique, and signs and symbols, as well as the role of the artist. In the second part, you can explore fifty paintings through extracted details, accompanied by insightful commentary, training you to understand context and meaning within art. As a collection, the pictures featured in How to Read Paintings have a strong relationship with one another, and underpin the story of painting. This book is a valuable tool whether you are viewing the real artwork on a gallery wall, or simply reading around the subject to learn more about Western art.Table of ContentsIntroduction Part 1: Grammar of Paintings Shape and Support Medium and Materials Composition Style and Technique Signs and Symbols The Artist Part 2: Paintings in Detail Portrait Landscape Narrative Still Life Abstraction Appendices Glossary Directory of Paintings Directory of Galleries Index Acknowledgements

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Book SynopsisFree Play is about the inner sources of spontaneous creation. It is about why we create and what we learn when we do. It is about the flow of unhindered creative energy: the joy of making art in all its varied forms.             An international bestseller and beloved classic, Free Play is an inspiring and provocative book, directed toward people in any field who want to contact, honor, and strengthen their own creative powers. It reveals how inspiration arises within us, how that inspiration may be blocked, derailed or obscured, and how finally it can be liberated—how we can be liberated—to speak or sing, write or paint, dance or play, with our own authentic voice. Stephen Nachmanovitch, a pioneer in free improvisation, integrates material from a wide variety of sources among the arts, sciences, and spiritual traditions of humanity, drawing on unusual quotes, amusing and illuminating anecd

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Book SynopsisDick Higgins and his Something Else Press epitomized the riotous art of the ‘60s There are few art-world figures as influential—and as little known—as Dick Higgins (1938–98), cofounder of Fluxus, "polyartist," poet, scholar, theorist, composer, performer and, not least, the publisher of the legendary Something Else Press. In 1965 he restored the term "intermedia" to the English language, giving it new dimension to recognize the dissolution of boundaries between traditional modes of art-making and the open field for new forms that cannot be compartmentalized. His own contributions to intermedia are many—as a participant and instigator of happenings, as writer and composer straddling traditional and vanguard forms, among others—but it was Something Else Press (1963–74) that redefined how "the book" could inhabit that energized, in-between space. Something Else Press was as much a critical statement and radical experiment as it was a collection of books by some of the most luminary artists and writers of the 20th century: Gertrude Stein, John Cage, Ray Johnson, Dieter Roth, Bern Porter, Ian Hamilton Finlay, Emmett Williams, Robert Filliou, and George Brecht, among many others. Along with his Great Bear Pamphlet series and the Something Else newsletter, Higgins exploited and subverted conventional book production and marketing strategies to get unconventional and avant-garde works into the hands of new and often unsuspecting readers. Edited by Granary Books publisher Steve Clay and Fluxus artist Ken Friedman, this judiciously curated and indispensable compendium of essays, theoretical writings and narrative prose dives deep into the ever-influential ideas that Higgins explored in theory and practice. Clay and Friedman have chosen works that illuminate Higgins' voracious intellectual appetite, encyclopedic body of knowledge and playful yet rigorous experimentation in a selection that includes many writings long out of print or difficult to find.Trade ReviewIt's an unruly guide to publishing and preserving one's cultural present. -- Brian Dillon * Bookforum *Apart from its value in making several had-to-find essays available, this volume imparts a nuanced sense of a man who not only styled himself an avant-garde philosophe (not unlike his teacher John Cage) but also made a sustained and messy effort to create a worldly space for a certain kind of art, performance, and writing—and life. -- James Gibbons * Hyperallergic *An intoxicating, multifaceted bouquet of various genres of Higgins’s writing, the anthology highlights the artist’s role as participant-historian in numerous early postmodern currents across the visual arts, literature, music, theater, and dance. -- Natilee Harren * Artforum *Essential reading for any young artist who is ready to strike out into something new, something else. -- Michael Galbreth * Glasstire *A provocative firsthand account delving into the importance of artist collectives, the making of hybrid art forms, and the trials of independent publishing. * Kirkus *This volume contains a wealth of primary source texts which attest to Higgins’s ability to put words to the swirling cacophony of postwar art. -- Jennie Waldow * The Brooklyn Rail *

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Book SynopsisAn Invitation to Biblical Poetry is an accessibly written introduction to biblical poetry that emphasizes the aesthetic dimensions of poems and their openness to varieties of context. It demonstrates the irreducible complexity of poetry as a verbal art and considers the intellectual work poems accomplish as they offer aesthetic experiences to people who read or hear them. Chapters walk the reader through some of the diverse ways biblical poems are organized through techniques of voicing, lineation, and form, and describe how the poems'' figures are both culturally and historically bound and always dependent on later reception. The discussions consider examples from different texts of the Bible, including poems inset in prose narratives, prophecies, psalms, and wisdom literature. Each chapter ends with a reading of a psalm that offers an acute example of the dimension under discussion. Students and general readers are invited to richer and deeper readings of ancient poems and the subjects, problems, and convictions that occupy their imagination.Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction Chapter 1: Voices Emotion Ascription and Authorship Multiplicity and Dialogue Prophetic Voicing Gender Psalm 55: A Reading Chapter 2: Lines Parallelism Enjambment Psalm 19: A Reading Chapter 3: Forms Terms Hymns Laments Love Poems Parody Acrostic Psalm 119: A Reading Chapter 4: Figures Metaphor and Simile Personification and Anthropomorphism Metaphors for the Deity Symbols Psalm 65: A Reading Chapter 5: Contexts Three Worlds of the Text Worlds Behind the Text Allusion Prophetic Poetry's Refusals The Poetry of Exile Psalm 137: A Reading Conclusion Index

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Book SynopsisThe first collection in English of the writings of Russian conceptual artist Ilya Kabakov, a leading figure in the avant garde in the 1960s and ’70s and a major influence on artists today.

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Book SynopsisThe highly practical lessons in How to Get to Great Ideas are based on neuroscience, psychology and sociology. Written by former advertising creative director Dave Birss, this book offers a brilliant new system for conceiving original and valuable ideas. It looks at how to frame a problem, how to push your thinking, how to sell the idea, how to build support for it and how to inspire others to have great ideas. It proves that any organization - and any individual or department within an organization - can create a fertile environment for ideas. Combining a practical research-based system with fascinating insights and inspiring and humorous writing, the book also includes the problem-solving system RIGHT Thinking. This is a tool which enables a more effective way to generate more effective ideas, and is one that anyone can use to transform themselves or their business. Training on this system is also available in person from the author. And will be released soon as an Trade ReviewMakes you sit up and listen. * Rachel Evans, Experian Data Quality *One of the most original speakers I've ever seen. Dave is one of the most creative minds off and on the stage. * Darko Buldioski, Allweb Events *Brilliant and thought provoking. I love Dave's ability to open my mind to new concepts and ways of thinking. * Graham Ruddick, Digital Doughnut *

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Book SynopsisIn the middle of the electromagnetic spectrum between the binary extremes of black and white it’s not gray, as you might expect, but green. And within green’s bandwidth there are more tonal variations than any other colour can make. Maybe this is why - envy, naivete, and money aside - green is generally synonymous with good. Green is paradise for Islam, luck for the Irish, and a healthy planet for environmentalists. Whereas the industrial past was grey, the future is green. LA+ Green explores the green spectrum from plants to politics and from art to science, with contributions from: Noam Chomsky; Robert D. Bullard; Kassia St. Clair; Neil M. Maher; Rob Levinthal; Sonja Dümpelmann; Peder Anker; Robert Mcdonald; Parker Sutton; Tamara Toles O’Laughlin; Nicholas Pevzner; Michael Marder; Shannon Mattern; Michael Geffel; Brian Osborn; Julian Bolleter; Cristina Ramalho; Robert Freestone; Richard Weller; Michael Geffel; Brian Osborn; Julian Raxworthy.

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Book SynopsisThe texts in this volume represent Kristin Ross's attempt to think the question of the everyday across a range of discourses, practices and knowledges, from philosophy to history, from the visual arts to popular fiction, all the way to the forms taken by collective political action in the territorial struggles of today. If everyday life is, as many have come to believe, the ideal vantage point for an analysis of the social, it is also the crucial first step in its transformation.The volume opens with a return to Henri Lefebvre's powerful attempt to think the everyday as both residue and resource, as the site of profound alienation and-by the same token-the site where all emancipatory initiatives and desires begin. The second section focuses on our attempts to represent our lived reality to ourselves in cultural forms, from painting and literature and film to an analysis of the contemporary transformations of the sub-genre most embedded in the deep superficiality of everyday life: detective fiction. The final section turns to present-day ecological occupations in the wake of the zad at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, and locates the everyday as a site for rich oppositional resources and immanent social creativity.Trade ReviewIn these remarkably lucid essays, real critics, rebellious farmers, artisans, and diverse character-types are summoned to remind us of moments of conformist immobility, disavowals of colonialism, violence and class difference; but also, of how French cultural history offers paths toward public beauty, collectivity, ecological ways of living. Ross has an uncanny ability to zero in on what matters in the forms of the Paris Commune and beyond, letting participants speak without the usual virtue-signaling. -- Karen Pinkus, Professor of Romance Studies and Comparative Literature, Cornell UniversityThis volume recalls why Kristin Ross's work is a necessary point of entry into the infinite insurrection of everyday life envisaged by Karl Marx and Henri Lefebvre, Arthur Rimbaud and Jacques Ranciere, variously enacted from the Commune to May 68, and that animates the rural radicalism of today's Zad. Anyone interested in altering the questions of our day towards a new everyday life will find here an abundant reservoir to think and do anew. -- Manu Goswami, New York University

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"An excellent study . . . Tsai works chronologically through case studies that variously illuminate the changing terms of Moholy’s utopian humanism and its abiding relationship to technology and pedagogical technique." * Los Angeles Review of Books *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments / vii Plates / xi Introduction / 1 1. New Vision / 12 2. Painting Productivity / 52 3. Sorcerer’s Apprentice / 85 4. Painting after Photography / 113 Conclusion: Homecoming / 142 Postscript / 163 Archive Abbreviations / 168 Notes / 169 List of Illustrations / 197 Index / 201

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Book SynopsisIn four decades of abstract art practice, Lynda Benglis has not merely challenged the status quo. She has tied it in knots, melted it down and poured it across the floor, cast it in glass, clay and bronze. Daring and sometimes outrageous, her intense and provocative practice has produced some of the most iconic pieces of art from the late twentieth century. Richmond gives serious critical attention to work often dismissed as trivial and rootless, recovering the themes that link the different phases of the artist''s quest to capture the ''frozen gesture''. Whether challenging popular tastes and definitions of art with her 1970s abstract knotwork or mocking puritanical aesthetics of gender with her colourful latex pourings and their allusions to corporeal topographies, Benglis never failed to provoke. Her sculptures commemorate and celebrate the processes of creation themselves, combining architectonic abstraction and feminized sensuality in a haunting, visceral theme of the strangenTable of ContentsIntroduction 1. Boundless Forms and Continuous Imagery 2. Flesh and Physicality 3. Video Input and Output 4. Questioning Taste 5. Iterations and Expansions

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Book SynopsisThe latest publication by designer Kenya Hara following his acclaimed Designing Design. White is not a book about color. It is rather the author's attempt to explore the essence of “white,” which he sees as being closely related to the origin of Japanese aesthetics-symbolizing simplicity and subtlety. The central concepts discussed are emptiness and the absolute void. Kenya Hara also sees his work as a designer as a pure form of communication. Good communication has the distinction of being able to listen to each other, rather than to press one's opinion onto the opponent. Kenya Hara compares this form of communication with an “empty container.” In visual communication, there are equally signals whose signification is limited, as well as signals or symbols such as the cross or the red circle on the Japanese flag, which-like an “empty container”-permit every signification and do not limit imagination. It is not only the fact that the Japanese character for white forms a radical of the character for emptiness that has prompted him to closely associate the color white with the state of emptiness. This book offers a personal insight into the philosophy of the successful designer and author of Designing Design. 4 illustrations

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Book SynopsisIn the wake of failed states, growing economic and political inequality, and the ongoing US- and NATO-led wars for resources, security, and economic dominance worldwide, contemporary artists are revisiting former European colonies, considering past injustices as they haunt the living yet remain repressed in European consciousness. With great timeliness, projects by Sven Augustijnen, Vincent Meessen, Zarina Bhimji, Renzo Martens, and Pieter Hugo have emerged during the fiftieth anniversary of independence for many African countries, inspiring a kind of “reverse migration”—a return to the postcolony, which drives an ethico-political as well as aesthetic set of imperatives: to learn to live with ghosts, and to do so more justly.

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Book SynopsisA queer theory of visual art - based on extensive readings of art works Queer Art traces the question of how strategies of denormalization initiated by visual arts can be continued through writing. In the book's three chapters art theoretical debates are combined with queer theory, post-colonial theory, and (dis-)ability studies, proposing the three terms radical drag, transtemporal drag, and abstract drag. The works discussed include those by Zoe Leonard, Shinique Smith, Jack Smith, Wu Ingrid Tsang, Ron Vawter, Bob Flanagan, Henrik Olesen, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Sharon Hayes, and Pauline Boudry/Renate Lorenz.Trade Review"An exciting read for those invested in queer theory and gender studies as well as for those with an interest in the fine arts and performance art." Gloria Höckner, fiber [German magazine for feminist and pop-cultural issues, appears twice a year], 21 (2012) "A very complex book that manages to be comprehensive - and infectious at the same time." Persson Perry Baumgartinger, Stimme [quarterly magazine published by the Austrian 'Initiative Minderheiten' ('Initiative Minorities')], 85 (2012) "Renate Lorenz focuses on a description of the appearance of the 'freak' as a cultural practice that not only offers alternatives to conventional relations of social power through interventions and images but also constitutes more than a simple critique or subversion of social norms. What is special about her work is that her theory links poststructuralist approaches with typical elements of the freak show [...] and thereby generates innovative intersections that go beyond what has been so far characteristic of the queer. Lorenz thus adds new aspects to the academic field." Silke Förschler, sehepunkte [German monthly Open Access review journal for historiography and art studies], 13 (2013)

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Book Synopsis"I am the supercommunity, and you are only starting to recognize me. I grew out of something that used to be humanity. Some have compared me to angry crowds in public squares; others compare me to wind and atmosphere, or to software."Invited to exhibit at the 56th Venice Biennale, e-flux journal produced a single issue over a four-month span, publishing an article a day both online and on-site at Venice. In essays, poems, short stories, and plays, artists and theorists trace the negative collective that is the subject of contemporary life, in which art, the internet, and globalization have shed their utopian guises but persist as naked power, in the face of apocalyptic ecological disaster and against the claims of the social commons. "I convert care to cruelty, and cruelty back to care. I convert political desires to economic flows and data, and then I convert them back again. I convert revolutions to revelations. I don't want security, I want to leave, and then disperse myself everywhere and all the time."Trade ReviewSupercommunity traverses every experience, every struggle. It gives voice to art as it does to social critique, to the critique of science in the same way as the syndicalism of the old and new labour-power, to the struggle of artists as precarious workers and the precarious workers as artists. -- Antonio Negri, from the introduction

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Book SynopsisThe ultimate guide for artists in every medium. Every artist needs to know how to create the illusion of depth and distance. Packed with specific tips and instruction for several different mediums including acrylic, oil, watercolor and graphite Teaches essential perspective techniques through easy step-by-step demonstrations and exercises Starts simple and moves on to complex scenes and challenges such as stairways, curves, and non-rectangular objects Most books that cover perspective thoroughly are difficult to navigate. This book provides comprehensive and friendly instruction within a user-friendly North Light design

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Book SynopsisThe 3rd edition of Color Studies introduces students from all concentrations of visual arts to color theory, the physiology and psychology of color perception, and the physics of color. This text discusses in detail the four dimensions of color - hue, value, intensity and temperature - with tips for putting knowledge into practice in a variety of disciplines, from painting and other fine arts to interior design, architecture, fashion design, textile design, and graphic design. Feisner and Reed provide an up-to-date discussion of sustainable color applications and green materials as the underlying component of colorants, dyes, and inks in textiles, printmaking and paints. A new chapter on color and digital technology discusses illuminating with color (LED), color tools and management (Pantone), as well as color consulting and marketing. Taking a multidisciplinary approach, this lavishly illustrated edition balances traditional and modern perspectives and examples in all areas of fine art and design.Trade ReviewFinally a book on colour that is written with designers in mind, not just artists - highly comprehensive. -- Valerie Mace, London College of Communication, UKGood publication - wide range of colour applications and topics covered. Informative and knowledgeable about colour - recommended. -- Fiona Candy, University of Central Lancashire, UKI found this publication informative, visually pleasing and a useful discourse on not only the theory of colour but consideration of cultural value and interpretation. Easy to access and understand, I will certainly be recommending this to my students and as part of their recommended reading for their course. -- Patricia Woods, South Devon College, UKOne of the best books I have seen on this subject. -- Julie Brown, University of Bolton, UKTable of ContentsPart I: Color Foundations Chapter 1: What is Color? Chapter 2: Color Systems and Color Wheels Chapter 3: Color Theorists Chapter 4: Coloring Agents Chapter 5: Digital Color Media and Technology Part II Dimensions of Color Chapter 6: The Dimension of Hue Chapter 7: The Dimension of Value Chapter 8: The Dimension of Intensity Chapter 9: The Dimension of Temperature Part III: Color in Compositions Chapter 10: Color and the Principles of Design Chapter 11: Color and Elements of Design Chapter 12: Color Interactions Chapter 13: Color and the Effects of Illumination Part IV: The Influence of Color Chapter 14: Color Symbolism Chapter 15: Putting Color to Use— Past, Present, and Future Appendices Glossary Bibliography Index Credits

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Book SynopsisThe newest monograph dedicated to the striking new work of internationally acclaimed abstract painter Suzan FreconSuzan Frecon features new paintings, which highlight the artist’s ongoing exploration of the interaction of shape, color, texture, and light. Painted over long periods of time, these works are the result of a deliberative process guided by a deep understanding of color and the properties of paint. Frecon has been exploring the issues of horizontality and verticality, asymmetrical balances, and interacting arrangements of color for over five decades. The result is an ongoing dialogue that yields new and surprising paintings at every turn.Frecon’s knowledge of color is deeply rooted in art history; her selection of color brings with it an understanding of the scientific properties of pigments as well as their use by Renaissance painters. Esteemed poet and critic John Yau explores this inspiration in his illuminating essay, in which he teases out the connections between these bold abstract works and historic figurative paintings. Highlighting Frecon’s interest in these paintings for their form and color rather than their narrative, Yau offers a new and intriguing way of looking at both present and past.

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Book SynopsisWhy are curves important? What are the secrets of ornamentation? How do you create an invisible repeat in a fabric or wallpaper design? Does a hidden geometry inform these free-flowing floral compositions? In this beautiful pocket book, packed with rare illustrations and helpful diagrams, artist Lisa DeLong demonstrates the time-honoured techniques behind the use of curves and plant forms in the traditional visual arts. From ironwork to illuminated manuscripts, this is an inspirational book.

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Book SynopsisOn Curating, Carolee Thea's second volume of interviews with ten of today's leading curators, explores the intellectual convictions and personal visions that lay the groundwork for the most prestigious and influential exhibitions in the world today. Among the aesthetic and theoretical issues raised are the relationship between artist and curator, globalism, post-colonialism, capitalism, the future of cultural tourism and the biennial as spectacle or utopian ideal. As Thea notes in her introduction, "the biennial or mega-exhibition--a laboratory for experimentation, investigation and aesthetic liberation--is where the curators' experience and knowledge are tested. As they negotiate venues for artistic expression, intellectual critiques and humanistic concerns in their own societies and others, they are challenged by the certainties and uncertainties of a constantly evolving future." Thea's interviewees are Joseph Backstein, Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, Okwui Enwezor, Charles Esche, Massimiliano Gioni, RoseLee Goldberg, Mary Jane Jacob, Pi Li, Virginia Perez-Ratton and Rirkrit Tiravanija. On Curating also includes 50 color illustrations of relevant works by (among others) Kutlug Ataman, Tamy Ben-Tor, John Bock, Cao Fei, Olafur Eliasson, Isaac Julien, Francois & Philippe Parreno, Yvonne Rainer, Michael Rakowitz, Doris Salcedo, Allan Sekula, Yinka Shonibare and Francesca Woodman. Carolee Thea is a curator, critic, art historian and independent scholar. Her first book, Foci: Interviews with Ten International Curators was published in 2001. She is contributing editor at ArtAsiaPacific and Sculpture magazine and was the English editor of Atlántica 45. Her articles, reviews and interviews have been published in many arts journals, among them Parkett, Artforum.com, The New Art Examiner, Modern Painters, Artnet.com, ZSijue 21 Beijing, Heresies, Tema Celeste, Parachute and ArtNews.

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Book SynopsisA teacher to Jacques Lacan, André Breton, and Albert Camus, Kojève defined art as the act of extracting the beautiful from objective reality. His poetic text, “The Concrete Paintings of Kandinsky,” endorses nonrepresentational art as uniquely manifesting beauty. Taking the paintings of his renowned uncle, Wassily Kandinsky, as his inspiration, Kojève suggests that in creating (rather than replicating) beauty, the paintings are themselves complete universes as concrete as the natural world. Kojève’s text considers the utility and necessity of beauty in life, and ultimately poses the involuted question: What is beauty? Including personal letters between Kandinsky and his nephew, this book further elaborates the unique relationship between artist and philosopher. An introduction by Boris Groys contextualizes Kojève’s life and writings.

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Book SynopsisIs architecture an art, like literature or music? Or is it more akin to science or engineering? Can buildings be artworks, just like paintings and sculptures, or does their fundamentally functional nature mean they cannot be considered pure works of art? Questions of architecture, art, and aesthetics do not allow for simple answers. But by asking such questions, we can usefully reveal the ways in which the concepts and meanings of architecture have changed over the centuries, and how they continue to change in the contemporary era. Is Architecture Art? explores the key conceptual questions about the aesthetic appreciation of architecture and its persistently contested status as an artform. It engages the work of thinkers ranging from Hume and Kant to Adorno, Tafuri, and Rancière, and draws on accessible and thought-provoking accounts of historical and contemporary architectural and art theory. Taking novel approaches to issues that will be familiar t

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Book Synopsis'Without The Artist's Way, there would be no Eat, Pray, Love' - ELIZABETH GILBERT WATKINS TOP 100 MOST SPIRITUALLY INFLUENTIAL PEOPLE OF 2023 How can we tap into the wisdom inside ourselves? LIVING THE ARTIST'S WAY is a Six-Week Artist's Way Program that explores the fourth essential Artist's Way tool of guidance. Bestselling author Julia Cameron has inspired millions through creative recovery with her essential tools including Morning Pages, Artist Dates, Walks, and now, Writing for Guidance. Through the practice of morning rituals and the faith of listening, Julia takes us further and shows how we can set the stage to receive guidance in both our lives and creative art. Writing about how she uses these tools to handle doubts in her life, Living the Artist's Way reveals a personal side and shares Julia's pathway toward a happier, lighter life. Grounding and reassuring, guidance can quell our doubts and fears, and lead us to our inner wisdom and authentic selves. Living the Artist's Way is an invitation to seek the answers to navigate all areas of our lives, by tapping into our own wisdom and ultimately, guiding ourselves back to creativity.Trade ReviewPRAISE FOR JULIA CAMERON * : *The queen of change * New York Times *A lifelong creative and the queen of morning routines * The Cut *Julia Cameron invented the way people renovate the creative soul * New York Times *PRAISE FOR THE ARTIST'S WAY * : *I absolutely love this book ... It's a really good starting point to discover what lights you up -- Emma GannonCameron's morning pages have shaped the lives of millions of others * Guardian *Want to write that novel? That play? This is the book -- Lemn SissayIt completely changed my life -- Kerry WashingtonSo inspiring -- Reese WitherspoonWithout The Artist's Way, there would have been no Eat, Pray, Love -- Elizabeth GilbertIt's a big dog book ... [morning pages] gets all the gunk out of my head so that I can just start afresh and focus on whatever is in front of me -- Michaela CoelIt's a great tool for any type of creative person. I've given away so many copies -- Tayari JonesUnlock your inner creativity and ease your anxiety * Daily Telegraph *I talk about this book all the time - I use quotes from it when I interview people, I use techniques from it to improve how I work, I'm pretty obsessed with the book, I've read it twice, it's amazing -- Fearne CottonIf you have always wanted to pursue a creative dream, have always wanted to play and create with words or paints, this book will gently get you started -- Anne LamottI never wrote until I started The Artist's Way ... Being introduced to that book, over 20 years ago, really changed my life -- Billy PorterCameron wants you to have a serious think about what you really want from your life * The Times *If there's a key takeaway from Julia Cameron's cult book The Artist's Way, it's morning pages: the daily practice of three pages of longhand, stream-of-consciousness writing done first thing in the morning. Many writers and artists swear by them * AnOther Magazine *Everything creative I've done has led from the freedom this book gave me. This book truly changed the path my life was taking [and] I still go back to it when I feel stuck -- Cariad Lloyd, host of Griefcast and author of You Are Not AloneIt's absolutely incredible -- Naomie Harris OBE

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