Книги про современное искусство

A retrospective of Yayoi Kusama, Japan's most prominent artist and 'Queen of the Polka Dots'

Avant-garde artist Yayoi Kusama’s matchless creativity and originality have been captivating the world since she moved from Matsumoto, her hometown in Nagano, Japan, to the USA in 1958. In the last ten years alone, her retrospective exhibitions in four major European and American museums, including Tate Modern, London, and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, have seen record attendance.

Kusama has continuously innovated and re-invented her style. Well-known for her repeating dot patterns, her art encompasses an astonishing variety of media, including painting, drawing, sculpture, film, performance and immersive installation. It ranges from works on paper featuring intense semi-abstract imagery, to soft sculpture known as ‘Accumulations’, to her ‘Infinity Net’ paintings, made up of carefully repeated arcs of paint built up into large patterns. This comprehensive publication, originally published to accompany a sell-out exhibition at Matsumoto City Museum of Art, offers a comprehensive overview of Kusama’s entire career, including works from her youth, when she indulged in drawing in order to escape from her hallucinations; paintings made when she was based in New York, including ‘Infinity Nets’ and ‘Polka Dots’; works from the 1980s and 1990s, when she participated in the Venice Biennale; and last but not least, the ongoing large-scale series ‘My Eternal Soul’. The plates are in chronological order and followed by detailed captions.

About the Authors:

Yayoi Kusama (born 22 March 1929) is a Japanese contemporary artist who works primarily in sculpture and installation but is also active in painting, performance, film, fashion, poetry, fiction, and other arts. Her work is based in conceptual art and shows some attributes of feminism, minimalism, surrealism, Art Brut, pop art, and abstract expressionism, and is infused with autobiographical, psychological, and sexual content.
Akira Shibutami is a curator at the Matsumoto City Museum of Art.

In celebration of one of Kusama’s most iconic infinity rooms

A tribute to Yayoi Kusama, the world’s most popular artist, according to The Art Newspaper and The Guardian.

Yayoi Kusama is one of Japan’s most important and famous artists, beloved across multiple generations and different audiences, capable of wonder and amazement. Infinito presente is a tribute to her original and unique art, focusing on Fireflies on the Water one of her most iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms from the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York. Fireflies on the Water is a room-sized installation where, as the title suggests, the lights seem almost natural, like fireflies on a quiet summer’s night. The pool of water creates an incredible sense of stillness and the mirrors reflect never-ending images of themselves, creating a sidereal ambience. Space appears infinite, without top or bottom, beginning or end. As in Yayoi Kusama’s early installations, including her Infinity Mirror Room (1965), Fireflies on the Water embodies an almost hallucinatory approach to reality. Although linked to the artist’s personal mythology and the process of therapeutic work, this work also references sources as diverse as the myth of Narcissus and Kusama’s native Japanese landscape.

About the Author:

Stefano Raimondi, contemporary art curator, is director of network The Blank Contemporary Art, Italy’s leading network dedicated to the promotion and enhancement of contemporary art and the territory in which it is embedded.

World-renowned Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama has worked in a variety of media, including painting, sculpture, performance art, and installation. Kusama’s iconic Infinity Mirror Rooms, which originated with Phalli’s Field in 1965, situate viewers in kaleidoscopic spaces filled with multicolored lights or whimsical forms. These mirror-lined installations reflect endlessly, distorting rooms to project the illusion of infinite space. Over the years, the works have come to symbolize different modalities within the various contexts they have inhabited, from Kusama's “self-obliteration” in the Vietnam War era to her more harmonious aspirations in the present.

By examining her early unsettling installations alongside her more recent ethereal atmospheres, this volume aims to historicize the body of work amidst the resurgence of experiential practices within the global landscape of contemporary art. Generously illustrated, this publication invites readers to examine the series’ impact over the course of the artist’s career. Accompanying essays, an interview with the artist, and a scholarly chronology round out the book.

Exhibition at Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC, February 16 - May 14, 2017

About the Author:

Mika Yoshitake is Associate Curator at the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Melissa Chiu is Director of the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Alexander Dumbadze is Chair and Associate Professor of Art History at The George Washington University, Washington, Dc. GloriaA Sutton is Assistant Professor of Contemporary Art History at Northeastern University, Boston. Miwako Tezuka is Consulting Curator at Arakawa + Gins Reversible Destiny Foundation, New York.

The debut monograph on the globally-lauded artist, filled with his joyful, witty paintings, illustrations, collaborations, and more – includes never-before-seen artwork and personal sketchbooks, giving insight into his artistic practice

Jean Jullien’s work is instantly recognizable and wide in its scope. Known for his astutely observed and witty depictions of everyday life, his illustrations place expressive characters in relatable environments and act as a visual commentary on life. Organized in three sections – Personal, Collaboration, and Public – this fulsome book explores Jullien’s approach to art and covers his expansive career, from his earliest creative partnerships to his progression into painting, while also offering a first-hand look at his process with sketches and never-before-seen works. Unique and comprehensive in its scope, this is a must-have book for every fan of Jullien's work.

About the Author:

Jean Jullien is a prolific and beloved French graphic design artist. His creative output ranges from illustration, photography, and video to costumes, installations, books, posters, clothing — even skateboards. Jullien has shown work around the world with museums and galleries in Paris, London, Brussels, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Berlin, Tokyo, Seoul, Singapore and more. His work appears in The New York Times, New Yorker, National Geographic, SZ Magazine, Telerama and more, and he has collaborated with Beams, RCA Records, The Connaught, Colette, Amnesty International, Le Coq Sportif, Jardin des Plantes (Nantes), Hotel Amour, Champion USA, Salomon, and Petit Bateau, among other global brands.

The most comprehensive monograph on the enigmatic French artist – updated to include brand-new work

Filled with stunning photography, this extraordinary monograph charts a range of JR’s collaborative projects executed across the globe.

Created in close collaboration with the artist, it features chapters on each of JR’s major bodies of work – from Expo2Rue, using the street as his canvas to launch his career as an artist, to The Chronicles of Miami, which opened in November 2023. It also includes his collaborations with other artists and institutions such as the New York City Ballet, film director Agnès Varda, and Time magazine.

A foreword by Hollywood legend George Lucas, a specially commissioned graphic novel by comic artist Joseph Remnant, an updated survey essay by Nato Thompson, and a short piece by Italian film director Alice Rohrwacher all come together to tell JR’s fascinating story.

About the Authors:

JR is the enigmatic French artist behind some of the world’s most provocative large-scale public photography projects. His work appears around the world, including recently at the Palais Garnier in Paris.

Joseph Remnant is a Los Angeles-based artist/cartoonist whose comics and illustrations have appeared in Arthur magazine, Juxtapoz, and the New York Times.

Nato Thompson is an author and formerly Chief Curator for Creative Time in New York.

Alice Rohrwacher is an Italian filmmaker, and co-director of short film Omelia Contadina with JR.

George Lucas is a film director, producer and screenwriter, and founder of Lucasfilm.

Carmen Herrera Lawrence is a writer born in New York City with a background in creative nonfiction. She works at JR’s studio, where she manages his communications and supports project production.

Marc Azoulay is a curator, producer, and the Studio Director for the artist JR; he has overseen the creation of numerous public art projects, museum exhibitions, books, apps as well as feature and short films.

A vibrant look at the celebrated artist and designer KAWS.

Multidisciplinary artist KAWS was first known for his work as a graffiti artist and his subersive approach to poular imagery on bus shelter and phone booth advertisements.  This is the first comprehensive survey of the artist's body of work.

About the Authors:

Multidisciplinary artist KAWS was first known for his work as a graffiti artist and his subversive approach to popular imagery on bus shelter and phone booth advertisements. This is the first comprehensive survey of the artist’s body of work.
Mónica Ramírez-Montagut is a curator at The Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum.
Germano Celant is an art historian and director of Fondazione Prada in Milan.

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A lavishly illustrated tour of the methods, process and sources behind the iconic pop artworks of KAWS

American artist KAWS is one of the most famous living contemporary artists today. Renowned for his iconic visual language and larger-than-life sculptures, the artist draws on beloved pop culture icons to create a new and recognizable cast of characters of his own. The broad appeal of KAWS’ style has made his artwork accessible to collectors, museum visitors and the general public alike, and has led to collaborations with coveted global brands and immense commercial success.

KAWS: FAMILY, organized by the Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, marks the artist’s Canadian institutional exhibition debut with an array of his drawings, paintings, sculptures and selected products. The catalog features over 60 works from the past two decades, including installation photography; essays by Julian Cox, AGO Deputy Director and Chief Curator, and Mark Kingwell, FRSC, Professor of Philosophy, University of Toronto in Toronto, Canada; and an interview with KAWS by Jim Shedden, AGO Curator of Special Projects and Director of Publishing. Together, this material provides new insights into KAWS’ influences and creative process as well as the impact his work has made across the spheres of fine art, pop culture, product design and fashion.

A graffiti artist since adolescence, Brian Donnelly (born 1974), known professionally by his moniker KAWS, received his BFA in illustration from New York’s School of Visual Arts in 1996. He has collaborated with brands such as Supreme, Nike and Comme des Garcons, and his work can be found in the collections of the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, the Brooklyn Museum and the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. KAWS lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

A look at the remarkable Chinese performance artist, sculptor and painter.

Zhang Huan has emerged as one of the most important artists of his time, a fearless explorer of the limits of the human body and a key figure in the flourishing Chinese art scene. His earliest performances, including 12m2, 65 kg and To Raise the Water Level in a Fishpond, subjected his body to gruelling tests of endurance while addressing the relationship between physical endurance and spiritual tranquillity.

Zhang’s move to New York in 1998 contributed to his emergence as one of the most widely recognized figures in international contemporary art and led to performances in cities around the globe, including Sydney, Rome, Shanghai and Hamburg. In 2006 he established a studio in Shanghai, where he began to seek a greater connection to Chinese heritage and history. This marked a new direction in his work, as he turned from performance to sculpture, painting, and installation. Through creating large-scale sculpture, often using found objects such as doors from rural Chinese homes, he continues to explore new ways to render his interest in the human body and its unique language.

Buddhist themes, which figured indirectly into his early work, took on a more prominent role after a visit to Tibet in 2005. There, he began collecting fragments of Buddhist sculptures, which he then used as models for massive copper figures. Upon his return to Shanghai, he began to use incense ash from local Buddhist temples in his sculptures and paintings. The ash, a product of religious offerings, strengthens the link between his art and his Buddhist spiritual practice.

In the Interview, RoseLee Goldberg discusses with Zhang his life and motivations, his childhood in the rural province of Tangyin and his realization that his body could be the best vehicle to express himself. Yilmaz Dziewior’s Survey analyses the evolution of Zhang’s work from his early, controversial performances in Beijing through to his interest in Buddhism and his recent development of monumental sculptures and paintings, some requiring over a hundred assistants. Robert Storr focuses on Canal Building (2007), an epic ash painting that serves as a testament to the tremendous power of collective labour. For Artist’s Choice, Zhang has selected an extract from the teachings of the ancient monk tiguang compiled by his disciple Miaoji. Artist’s Writings include Zhang’s own illuminating thoughts on his art and his life, including a previously unpublished artist’s statement.

About the Authors:

Interview: RoseLee Goldberg is an art historian, critic and curator who pioneered the study of performance art. Author of several seminal books, including Performance Art: From Futurism to the Present (1979) and Performance: Live Art from the 1960s (1998), she is the Founding Director of ‘Performa’, a non-profit organization for the development, commission and presentation of performance art.

Survey: Yilmaz Dziewior is a critic and curator based in Hamburg, where he is a professor in art theory at the Hochschule für bildende Künste. Formerly Curator at the Ludwig Museum in Cologne and Director of the Kunstverein in Hamburg, where he organized an exhibition of Zhang Huan’s work in 2002, he is currently Co-Curator of the 7th Biennial Exhibition of Visual Arts in Limerick (2009). His writing has been published in Artforum, Camera Austria and Texte zur Kunst, as well as in numerous exhibition catalogues.

Focus: Robert Storr is Dean of the School of Art at Yale University. Formerly Senior Curator at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, he directed the SITE Santa Fe Biennial in 2004 and the Venice Biennale in 2007. He was a contributing author to Phaidon’s Alex Katz (2005), Louise Bourgeois (2003) and Raymond Pettibon (2001), and writes regularly for numerous journals and magazines, including Art in America, Frieze and Parkett.

At the Tipping Point

Taking a deliberately kaleidoscopic approach, the exhibition 1.5 Degrees and the accompanying catalogue encourage us to address the climate crisis in a curious, innovative, participatory, and active way. More than 30 international artists, including melanie bonajo, Julian Charrière, Ernesto Neto, Otobong Nkanga, Laure Prouvost, Marianna Simnett and the collective SUPERFLEX, explore the complex interdependencies between humans, nature and technology, and search for solutions, from plants as data repositories, algae as energy sources and microorganisms as empathic dialogue partners. Including all parts of the museum collections as well as new outdoor installations at the National Garden Show BUGA, the book presents various models of how to use the means of art to reshape the coexistence of species and emphasizes the hope-giving potential of creativity and innovation.

This book traces the rise of the 3D spectacle, from 19th-century stereoscopy to contemporary 3D filmmaking and artworks.

This book follows the cyclical development of 3D media from the 1830s to the present, tracing an alternate history of modernism in which virtual depth takes precedence over material flatness. Pursuing a career-long obsession, author Britt Salvesen explores the origins of the stereoscope and its impact on later artists, featuring historic images by Jules Duboscq, Marcel Duchamp, Oskar Fischinger, Salvador Dali, and others. She traces the origins of anaglyph and polarized film, as well as other 3D formats, such as View-Master, Stereo Realist, lenticular printing, computer animation, and holography. Readers learn how 3D techniques were adopted by such artists as Simone Forti, Dan Graham, Mariko Mori, William Kentridge, Trisha Baga, and Lucy Raven. Encompassing nearly 200 years of innovation and covering a wide range of genres, artists, and media — from sophisticated perceptual experimentation to popular cinema — this volume explores how and why 3D images remain wondrous to 21st-century artists and audiences. Each book includes 3D viewing apparatuses to allow readers to fully engage in this multi-dimensional history of artistic expression.

About the author:

Britt Salvesen is Curator and Head of the Wallis Annenberg Photography Department and the Prints and Drawings Department at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Now available in a new edition, this survey of great contemporary artists is the perfect introduction to the exciting world of art today.

From painters and photographers to sculptors and performance artists, fifty of the most influential contemporary artists are profiled in this colourful and engaging book that traces the various artistic movements and radical changes of the second half of the twentieth century. Presented chronologically, each artist is featured in one or two double-page spreads that include brilliant reproductions of their most important works, a succinct text about their work and life, an insightful biography with key dates in their career, and informative background on major developments in the art world. As diverse and inspiring as the artists themselves, this book is a voyage of discovery into art’s cutting edge.

About the Authors:

Brad Finger is an art historian based near Chicago, Illinois. He is the author of 13 Modern Artists Children Should Know and 13 American Artists Children Should Know.
Christiane Weidemann is an art historian and author of art books for children and adults. Her books include Salvador Dali, Leonardo da Vinci, and 50 Women Artists You Should Know.

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"Public art is one of the most important elements that define a city. Public installations echo the character and spirit of a time and place, and remind us all of the imperative need for creativity and imagination in our daily lives."
(Carole Feuerman)

Art has always made a substantial contribution to cultural identity. This impact is considerably enhanced when a work of art is created for a public place and takes on a space-defining function. Whatever the shape, size or medium, art in public, accessible to all, attracts attention. Its presence provokes thought, questions assumptions, expresses values, and adds new qualities to communities and cities.

In this volume, selected works introduce the history of public art over 4,500 years of historical eras and styles, including world-famous landmarks such as the Great Sphinx of Giza, the Trevi Fountain or the Statue of Liberty. The majority of art works presented here are from modern times, allowing an in-depth look at contemporary works by important artists like Alexander Calder, Nam June Paik, Jeff Koons, Eduardo Chillida or Ai Weiwei.

A sardonic spin on the ABC book, A is for Anarchist is a sharp knife in a drawer full of safety scissors.

Wryly written by critically acclaimed rapper billy woods and sublimely illustrated by artist m. musgrove, A is for Anarchist upends the traditional ABC format with earnestness that belies its irreverence. Anarchist takes modest ideas, like E is for Energy and G is for Ghosts, and flips them into incisive commentary on modern life and the state of the world. Also, it has to be the only alphabet book with annotated footnotes and a Nas reference.

About the Author:

Woods is a writer, rapper, and father who needed somethingcool to read to his children. The child of a Jamaican intellectual and a Zimbabwean revolutionary, woods’s childhood spent between the U.S., Africa, and the West Indies leaves its imprint on all his work. Musgrove is a Brooklyn-based painter, illustrator, and amateur animator. She is inspired by Wimmen’s Comix, William Morris, and tumult.

This is the first monograph on the internationally acclaimed Ivorian-American contemporary artist Aboudia.

Aboudia (b. 1983) draws inspiration from local street culture in his hometown of Abidjan, Ivory Coast. The artist is famous for his heavily layered, brutally energetic paintings that combine an innocence and spontaneity with the portrayal of a dark interior world. Since the Ivorian civil wars (2004–2011), his urban landscapes have been haunted by trauma: armed soldiers, ominous skulls, and a populace hemmed in by danger. His recent work continues to grapple with the hardships of daily life and the social inequalities within Ivorian society.

In his imagery, Aboudia refers to characters from his direct neighborhood and contemporary “Nouchi” culture and language, illustrating the vitality and resilience of the inhabitants of Abidjan. With an immense variety of details coming in and out of focus, often only revealing themselves after several viewings, his paintings are a melting pot of references, paying homage to traditional arts and spirituality but also including images from contemporary West African culture.

About the Authors:

Ugochukwu-Smooth C. Nzewi is a Nigerian artist, art historian, and curator, currently curator in the Department of Painting and Sculpture at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Gauz is the pen name of Patrick Armand-Gbaka Brede. Gauz is a photographer, writer, editor of a satirical Ivorian economic newspaper, and the author of the novel Debout-Payé, published in Paris in 2014 by “Le Nouvel Attila.”

This is the second extensive monograph dedicated to the internationally acclaimed Russian artist collective: AES+F.

Since 1987, AES+F have been working at the intersection of painting, sculpture, photography, video, and new technologies. They achieved worldwide acclaim in the Russian Pavilion at the 52nd Biennale di Venezia in 2007 with their provocative, other-worldly Last Riot (2007), the first of their signature large-scale, multichannel video installations. Always pushing the boundaries of their practice, between 2016 and 2019 the collective also worked on video set designs for theater and opera.

The volume will shed light on the psychoanalytic approach that underlies their language and provocations, intended to induce a process of self-reflection in the viewer, changing their perception of the world and society. Their visual journey will be articulated into three chronological sections corresponding to the most significant shifts in their conceptual evolution, covering their practice from 1995 to 2020.

The volume includes contributions by Tina R. Ryan and Brooke L. McGowan, Tom Morton and Hou Hanru.

About the Author:

Silvia Burini is Director of the Center for Studies in Russian Art (CSAR) at Ca’ Foscari University in Venice. Giuseppe Barbieri is full professor of History of Modern Art at Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and is the head of the Department of Philosophy and Cultural Heritage.