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How to Read Contemporary Art

Author: Michael Wilson

Publisher: Harry N. Abrams

Published: 2013-05-14

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781419707537

"Today's artists create work that's challenging, complicated, and often perplexing, and this book offers a guide to understanding-and enjoying- the wide range of works on display in museums and galleries worldwide. Organized alphabetically, the book includes more than two hundred works of art made in the last twenty years by living artists from all over the globe, encompassing photography, installation, sculpture, painting, video art, perfomance, and more. Author Michael Wilson explores the impact of a broad selection of the most prominent artists at work around the world, including Francis Alys, Allora & Calzadilla, Luc Tuymans, and Marina Abramovic." - Excerpt from back cover.

The Art of Looking

Author: Lance Esplund

Publisher: Basic Books

Published: 2018-11-27

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0465094678

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A veteran art critic helps us make sense of modern and contemporary art The landscape of contemporary art has changed dramatically during the last hundred years: from Malevich's 1915 painting of a single black square and Duchamp's 1917 signed porcelain urinal to Jackson Pollock's midcentury "drip" paintings; Chris Burden's "Shoot" (1971), in which the artist was voluntarily shot in the arm with a rifle; Urs Fischer's "You" (2007), a giant hole dug in the floor of a New York gallery; and the conceptual and performance art of today's Ai Weiwei and Marina Abramovic. The shifts have left the art-viewing public (understandably) perplexed. In The Art of Looking, renowned art critic Lance Esplund demonstrates that works of modern and contemporary art are not as indecipherable as they might seem. With patience, insight, and wit, Esplund guides us through the last century of art and empowers us to approach and appreciate it with new eyes. Eager to democratize genres that can feel inaccessible, Esplund encourages viewers to trust their own taste, guts, and common sense. The Art of Looking will open the eyes of viewers who think that recent art is obtuse, nonsensical, and irrelevant, as well as the eyes of those who believe that the art of the past has nothing to say to our present.

How to Write About Contemporary Art

Author: Gilda Williams

Publisher: Thames & Hudson

Published: 2014-10-14

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 0500772177

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An essential handbook for students and professionals on writing eloquently, accurately, and originally about contemporary art How to Write About Contemporary Art is the definitive guide to writing engagingly about the art of our time. Invaluable for students, arts professionals and other aspiring writers, the book first navigates readers through the key elements of style and content, from the aims and structure of a piece to its tone and language. Brimming with practical tips that range across the complete spectrum of art-writing, the second part of the book is organized around its specific forms, including academic essays; press releases and news articles; texts for auction and exhibition catalogues, gallery guides and wall labels; op-ed journalism and exhibition reviews; and writing for websites and blogs. In counseling the reader against common pitfalls—such as jargon and poor structure—Gilda Williams points instead to the power of close looking and research, showing how to deploy language effectively; how to develop new ideas; and how to construct compelling texts. More than 30 illustrations throughout support closely analysed case studies of the best writing, in Source Texts by 64 authors, including Claire Bishop, Thomas Crow, T.J. Demos, Okwui Enwezor, Dave Hickey, John Kelsey, Chris Kraus, Rosalind Krauss, Stuart Morgan, Hito Steyerl, and Adam Szymczyk. Supplemented by a general bibliography, advice on the use and misuse of grammar, and tips on how to construct your own contemporary art library, How to Write About Contemporary Art is the essential handbook for all those interested in communicating about the art of today.

The Story of Contemporary Art

Author: Tony Godfrey

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2020-11-10

Total Pages: 439

ISBN-13: 0262366045

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A lively introduction to the rich and diverse history of contemporary art over the past 60 years—from Modernism and minimalism to artists like Andy Warhol and Marina Abramović. Accessible and with lavish illustrations, this is the perfect gift for art history fans and anyone looking for a new, more inclusive perspective on ‘the old boys’ club.’ Encountering a work of contemporary art, a viewer might ask, "What does it mean?" "Is it really art?" and "Why does it cost so much?" These are not the questions that E. H. Gombrich set out to answer in his magisterial The Story of Art. Contemporary art seems totally unlike what came before it, departing from the road map supplied by Raphael, Dürer, Rembrandt, and other European masters. In The Story of Contemporary Art, Tony Godfrey picks up where Gombrich left off, offering a lively introduction to contemporary art that stretches from Andy Warhol’s Brillo boxes to Marina Abramović’s performance art to today’s biennale circuit and million-dollar auctions. Godfrey, a curator and writer on contemporary art, chronicles important developments in pop art, minimalism, conceptualism, installation art, performance art, and beyond.

What Is Contemporary Art?

Author: Terry Smith

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2012-08-10

Total Pages: 345

ISBN-13: 022613167X

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Who gets to say what counts as contemporary art? Artists, critics, curators, gallerists, auctioneers, collectors, or the public? Revealing how all of these groups have shaped today’s multifaceted definition, Terry Smith brilliantly shows that an historical approach offers the best answer to the question: What is Contemporary Art? Smith argues that the most recognizable kind is characterized by a return to mainstream modernism in the work of such artists as Richard Serra and Gerhard Richter, as well as the retro-sensationalism of figures like Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami. At the same time, Smith reveals, postcolonial artists are engaged in a different kind of practice: one that builds on local concerns and tackles questions of identity, history, and globalization. A younger generation embodies yet a third approach to contemporaneity by investigating time, place, mediation, and ethics through small-scale, closely connective art making. Inviting readers into these diverse yet overlapping art worlds, Smith offers a behind-the-scenes introduction to the institutions, the personalities, the biennials, and of course the works that together are defining the contemporary. The resulting map of where art is now illuminates not only where it has been but also where it is going.

Contemporary Art: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Julian Stallabrass

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2006-03-23

Total Pages: 169

ISBN-13: 0192806467

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"Bloodied toy soldiers, gilded shopping carts, and Lego concentration camps. Contemporary art is supposed to be a realm of freedom where artists shock, break taboos, and switch between confronting viewers with works of great profundity and jaw-dropping triviality. But away from shock tactics in the gallery, there are many unanswered questions. What is contemporary about contemporary art? What effect do politics and big business have on art? And who really runs the art world?" "Previously published as Art Incorporated, this controversial and witty Very Short Introduction is an exploration of the global art scene that will change the way you see contemporary art."--BOOK JACKET.

On Contemporary Art

Author: Cesar Aira

Publisher: David Zwirner Books

Published: 2018-11-20

Total Pages: 66

ISBN-13: 1941701868

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Translated into English for the first time, On Contemporary Art, a speech by the renowned novelist César Aira, was delivered at a 2010 colloquium in Madrid dedicated to bridging the gap between writing and the visual arts. On Aira’s dizzying and dazzling path, everything comes under question—from reproducibility of artworks to the value of the written word itself. In the end, Aira leaves us stranded on the bridge between writing and art that he set out to construct in the first place, flailing as we try to make sense of where we stand. Aira’s On Contemporary Art exemplifies what the ekphrasis series is dedicated to doing—exploring the space in which words give meaning to objects, and objects shape our words. Like the great writers Walter Benjamin and Hermann Broch before him, Aira operates in the space between fiction and essay writing, art and analysis. Pursuing questions about reproducibility, art making, and limits of language, Aira’s unique voice adds new insights to the essential conversations that continue to inform our understanding of art.

Understand Contemporary Art: A Teach Yourself Guide

Author: Grant Pooke

Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Published: 2011-04-26

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780071636919

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Unravel the contemporary art scene Whether you love it or loathe it, contemporary art is bound to provoke a reaction. Is it all about shock and sensation? Does it have to be either profound or trivial? Is the contemporary art market over-inflated and ready to burst or is it still soaring? Teach Yourself Contemporary Art delves deep into the contemporary art scene, asking all of these questions and more. It begins by putting contemporary art into context, considering its pre-history and development and moves on to explore the different forms of contemporary art including installation, land and environment art and video, film and digital media. The key personalities, recurrent themes and controversial competitions are all discussed in detail, as is the changing role of museums and galleries and the contemporary art market. Whether you want to hold your own at the snootiest of arty parties or need to study art as part of a course, this book is an objective guide that uncovers all.

Miami Contemporary Artists

Author: Paul Clemence

Publisher: Schiffer Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13:

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Miami, Florida, is fast becoming a critical center for contemporary art. Serving as an incubator for outstanding visual artists, this "natural playground for inspiration" is poised to become one of the leading cultural destinations of the world. With more than 315 stunning color photos, this exciting new book takes readers through significant highlights of the city's art history and showcases the works of over 100 contemporary artists who have helped bring the cultural evolution to fruition. Ranging from established artists with international careers to those beginning to make a name for themselves, this selection reveals diversity that breathes creative energy into the sultry, scintillating city of Miami.

Ways of Looking

Author: Ossian Ward

Publisher: Laurence King Publishing

Published: 2014-09-16

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781780671932

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Art has changed. Today's works of art may have no obvious focal point. Traditional artistic media no longer do what we expect of them. The styles and movements that characterized art production prior to the twenty-first century no longer exist. This book provides a straightforward guide to understanding contemporary art based on the concept of the tabula rasa – a clean slate and a fresh mind. Ossian Ward presents a six-step program that gives readers new ways of looking at some of the most challenging art being produced today. Since artists increasingly work across traditional media and genres, Ward has developed an alternative classification system for contemporary practice such as 'Art as Entertainment', 'Art as Confrontation', 'Art as Joke' -- categories that help to make sense of otherwise obscure-seeming works. There are also 20 'Spotlight' features which guide readers through encounters with key works. Ultimately, the message is that any encounter with a challenging work of contemporary art need not be intimidating or alienating but rather a dramatic, sensually rewarding, and thought-provoking experience.