Description
Book SynopsisThis book presents a detailed account of Guillermo Kuitca's major bodies of work, analysing his diverse range of imagery and reflecting on his engagement with the spaces in which we live.
Following Kuitca’s development from the 1980s to his latest body of work, the narrative reveals an artist who has continually challenged himself and his audience with new kinds of painterly language. In Kuitca’s hands, everyday visual material such as road maps, street plans, architectural blueprints and theatre seating charts are transformed into remarkable paintings. Their impact comes from their apparent engagement with dark subjects such as the Holocaust and Argentina’s 'Dirty War,' as well as the artist’s innovative imagery and techniques.
Drawing on conversations and studio visits the author has had with the artist, Guillermo Kuitca reveals the multifarious elements of a challenging and exciting body of work. It is essential reading for anyone fascinated by this truly original artist.
Trade Review'Raphael Rubinstein's fine narrative illuminates the experiences and indeed creators that have marked Guillermo Kuitca's courageous trajectory as an artist. They range from Pina Bausch's dance company playing to a hostile audience in 1980, to his unexpected reinvention of the shifting, yet claustrophobic space of Cubism in the recent immersive murals. Gathered in one volume, the images and backstory prove disturbing as well as oddly triumphal.' -- Catherine Lampert
'Rubinstein gives an incisive account of Kuitca's work, which is simultaneously abstract and affective, minimalist and exuberant, and deeply engaged with the world. Gingerly situation Kuitca in an international context, the book focuses on how he side-stepped the post-1960s endgame of painting, exploring ever new and compelling ways to give the medium a new lease on life. A must-read for anyone interested in art from beyond Europe and North America.' -- Andreas Huyssen
Table of ContentsChapter 1: A Certain Version of History; Chapter 2: The Painter as Dramaturge; Chapter 3: The Pathos of Home; Chapter 4: Cartographic Dreams; Chapter 5: Discovering the Diagram; Chapter 6: In a Garden of Forking Paths; Chapter 7: Space is a Doubt; Bibliography; Endnotes
