The Space Between: Selected Writings on Art - Softcover

Bracewell, Michael

Softcover

ISBN 10: 190546438X ISBN 13: 9781905464388

Publisher: Ridinghouse, 2022

Synopsis

• Michael Bracewell is a polymathic and celebrated cultural commentator. He is a novelist, writer (visual arts, music, literature) and curator who has written widely on art for museums, galleries, art publications and general media titles
• He has a deep knowledge of British counterculture and his writing situates art firmly within its cultural and political milieu
• His art criticism combines detailed description with an expanded range of references from music to poetry to mass media
• Each text is accompanied by an illustration selected by the author
• Also includes a number of autobiographical writings, a less well known aspect of Bracewell's work

The novelist, writer, curator and cultural commentator Michael Bracewell has written extensively for museums and galleries, along with art publications as diverse as Frieze and The Burlington Magazine, approaching visual art through its cultural context, the lens of the recent past and prolonged looking.

Bracewell’s art writing focuses on detailed descriptions of works of art, expanding their interpretation to include media, politics, music, poetry and other areas of cultural production. By exploring connections between the visual arts, pop music, modern iconography and subcultures, while appraising the vision and ideas of individual artists, he relates their work to its broader cultural context.

This collection of texts reads like a history of British art (and the UK itself) from the 1950s to the 2010s, featuring artists such as Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Gilbert & George, John Stezaker, Wolfgang Tillmans, Leigh Bowery, Glenn Brown and Damien Hirst. Each essay is accompanied by an illustration selected by Bracewell, and the publication concludes with a body of autobiographical writings.

About this title

About the Author

Michael Bracewell is a novelist and cultural historian who has written widely about art, visual culture, music and literature. His evocative memoir Souvenir, portraying 1970s and 1980s London, was published in 2021. Formerly the Publisher at Ridinghouse, Doro Globus is Managing Director at David Zwirner Books and is the author of 'Making a Great Exhibition', a book for children.

From the Back Cover

Critic, novelist and cultural voyeur Michael Bracewell is not a writer who's easy to classify. Born in 1958, a veteran of the British punk scene, he is a shockingly wide-ranging intellect whose influences range from Oscar Wilde to Patti Smith to electronic music artist Goldie. One of the most influential commentators on modern and contemporary art, a regular contributor to Frieze since its inception, Bracewell also has won awards for fashion writing.

In an engaging collection from the outstanding British art publisher Ridinghouse, Bracewell explores connections between the visual arts, pop music, modern iconography and various sub-cultures. These finely crafted essays appraise the vision and ideas of individual artists and the relation of their work to its broader cultural context. Bracewell has written extensively on artists including Gilbert & George, Richard Hamilton, Bridget Riley, Wolfgang Tillmans, Anish Kapoor, Keith Coventry, John Stezaker, Glenn Brown and Damien Hirst.

Reading Bracewell is sheer pleasure. His British colleagues describe his work as "lyrical" and "inspired." One critic calls him "the poet laureate of late capitalism," while another says his prose "shimmers with metaphysical warmth." Even allowing for critical exaggeration, there's no question this is a writer of huge talent, with a lot to say.

Edition details

• Publisher: Ridinghouse
• Publication date: 2022
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 190546438X
• ISBN 13: 9781905464388
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464