Live or Die: Philippe Vandenberg and Bruce Nauman - Hardcover

Wouter Davidts

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 9492677008 ISBN 13: 9789492677006

Publisher: Cannibal/Hannibal Publishers, 2017

Synopsis

• Studies the impossibility of human coexistence in the work of Philippe Vandenberg and Bruce Nauman
This publication combines the works of Belgian artist Philippe Vandenberg (1952-2009) and American artist Bruce Nauman (b. 1941). At first, it may seem startling to see Nauman's small but dense selection of works alongside those by Vandenberg. The artists never met one another and they could not be more different in their choice of artistic media. And yet there's something that links the oeuvre of these apparently divergent artists. This publication examines that extraordinary link.

The art of both Vandenberg and Nauman is direct, uncompromising and distressing. They share a common attitude towards their artistic practices. Their works are raw and uncouth, finished just to the point where they enter the onlooker's conscience as a kind of prelude or genesis to something. The work of Vandenberg and Nauman originates form the same source: frustration. They cry out in despair at the dark side of humanity, mourning our propensity for hatred and violence, coldness and vilification. They explore the impossibility of genuine, uncompromised communication between individual people. Both artists succeed in creating images that capture the abyss within ourselves, our failings and our cruelty. Lust and pain, violence and horror are all too close to each other.

"It is said that art is about life and death. That may be melodramatic, but it's also true," Nauman said. "LIVE OR DIE! Nothing more, nothing less."

The book is edited by Wouter Davidts, with texts by Dr. Brigitte Kölle (Head of Contemporary Art, Hamburger Kunsthalle), John C. Welchman (Professor of Art History, University of California, San Diego) and Anna Dezeuze (Lecturer in Art History, Ecole Supérieure d Art et de Design Marseille Méditerranée). It accompanies an exhibition at Gallery Sofie Van de Velde in Antwerp: 30.03.2017 - 21.05.2017.

About this title

About the Author

Dr. Brigitte Kölle is Head of the Contemporary Art Collection at the Hamburger Kunsthalle. Prior to this, she was the curator of Portikus, Frankfurt am Main; Inova, Milwaukee (USA), and the Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf. She has written extensively on contemporary art and edited numerous publications. John C. Welchman is Professor of Art History in the Visual Arts department at the University of California, the chair of the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts (Los Angeles) and advisor to the Rijksakademie van Beeldende Kunsten, Amsterdam. His most recent books are the monograph Guillaume Bijl (JRP|Ringier, 2016) and Past Realization: Essays on Contemporary European Art (Sternberg, 2016), the first volume of his collected writings. Anna Dezeuze is an art historian who lectures at the Ecole Supérieure d Art et de Design Marseille-Méditerranée in Marseilles.

From the Back Cover

Deze publicatie confronteert het werk van de Belgische kunstenaar Philippe Vandenberg (1952-2009) met dat van de Amerikaanse kunstenaar Bruce Nauman (°1941). Op het eerste gezicht lijkt het vreemd om hun werk naast elkaar te plaatsen. De kunstenaars hebben elkaar nooit ontmoet en verschillen bovendien erg in hun artistieke keuzes. En toch is er iets wat hun oeuvres met elkaar verbindt. Dit boek onderzoekt die bijzondere link. De kunst van zowel Vandenberg als Nauman is direct, compromisloos en ontwrichtend. Ook delen beide kunstenaars dezelfde houding tegenover het artistiek proces. Hun werk is open, rauw, ongezouten en wordt slechts afgewerkt tot op het punt waarop ze het ontstaan van iets totaal nieuws aankondigen.

Edition details

• Publisher: Cannibal/Hannibal Publishers
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 9492677008
• ISBN 13: 9789492677006
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 80
• Editor: Wouter Davidts