Art On the Edge...and Over: Searching for Art's Meaning in Contemporary Society 1970s-1990s - Softcover

Weintraub, Linda

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0965198812 ISBN 13: 9780965198813

Publisher: Art Insights, 1997

Synopsis

In this highly accessible introduction to American art since the 1970s, Linda Weintraub offers art lovers a readable exploration of some of the most important artists and movements of the past three decades. Today artists routinely dissolve the old boundaries of art by creating works that neither hang on walls nor adorn pedestals, and often willfully overturn conventions of aesthetic value, permanence and optical reward. Curator and educator Weintraub has researched and/or interviewed 35 prominent radical artists and here explores their common concerns, creative processes and media. Devoting one essay to each artist, Weintraub offers a primer for museum and gallery goers who may be confronting such works for the first time, discussing Andres Serrano's photo of a crucifix submerged in urine, the half ton of dirty clothes Christian Boltanski piled on a museum floor worn by children of the Holocaust, Janine Antoni's mammoth blocks of chocolate and lard, Chuck Close's computer art and David Hammon's detritus constructions.

About this title

From the Publisher

AN EASY-TO-UNDERSTAND GUIDE TO AVANT-GARDE ART
This book requires no art history background or knowledge of special jargon. It was published for anyone interested in understanding what's going on today in avant-garde art, as well as for people who want to better understand modern culture and adapt more easily to the stresses and changes in their daily lives.

Artists today are affected by society just as you are--by artificial, non-natural environments; synthetic products; computers; shopping malls; mass media; gender roles and discrimination; pollution; conditioning about the importance of fame, acquiring money and appearance; racial and other prejudices; compulsions; too many, overwhelming choices; and countless other experiences relevant to all of us.

The book features 35 concise chapters, each focusing on--and quoting--a particular artist. These artists do not aim to create beautiful artworks via painting or sculpture. They have powerful messages to convey in response to society's pressures, so they must resort to such unexpected mediums as pollen, smell, old clothes, flowers, blood, discarded dolls, toxic earth, objects from shopping trips, urine. Their social goals are illustrated through 158 images of their creations, including 29 in color.

The work discussed and shown is incredibly provoking and will change your view of society and how to live in it. It will definitely explain, help you translate and give you insights into avant-garde art. Then this art can have meaning for you and add immeasurably to your cultural life.

Some of the 35 artists included as representatives of their genre are Laurie Simmons, Wolfgang Laib, On Kawara, Marina Abramovic, Gilbert and George, David Hammons, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Salle, Janine Antoni, Rosemarie Trockel, Andres Serrano, Carolee Schneemann, Barbara Kruger, Vito Acconci, and Mike Kelley.

From the Back Cover

Recognizing that art at the end of the twentieth century changes too quickly and is too multifaceted and unfamiliar to be automatically understood, Art on the Edge and Over: Searching for Art's Meaning in Contemporary Society explains the intractably avant-garde art of the 1970s, 80s and 90s by searching for art's meaning within the context of popular culture and the common trends that have led to such new forms of expression. This one-of-a-kind resource is composed of 35 easy-to-read, chapter-long essays that each cover a particular deviation from conventional art practices (such as smell as an aesthetic ingredient, shopping as a creative process or blood, pollen, discarded dolls and toxic earth as a medium of expression.) Within each chapter, the theme discussed is illuminated by and elucidates the work of one particular artist (such as Laurie Simmons, Wolfgang Laib, On Kawara, Marina Abramovic, Gilbert and George, David Hammons, Felix Gonzalez-Torres, David Salle, Janine Antoni, Rosemarie Trockel, Andres Serrano, Carolee Schneemann, Barbara Kruger, Vito Acconci, and Mike Kelley). An easy-to-follow guide to the unconventional art of our contemporaries, Art on the Edge and Over is a vital resource for all those interested in art history, studio art, aesthetics, and contemporary society.

Edition details

• Publisher: Art Insights
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0965198812
• ISBN 13: 9780965198813
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 264