A fabulous tribute to the artist whose stylized poster designs defined Art Nouveau's visual language, and whose influence can be seen everywhere from manga to the Grateful Dead This volume reappraises the graphic work of Alphonse Mucha (1860–1939) and explores its influence on graphic art since the 1960s. Published in conjunction with a touring exhibition to five leading museums in the US and Mexico, this volume provides an opportunity to survey the development of Mucha’s style, which evolved to be synonymous with Art Nouveau. It explores how it was rediscovered by later generations of artists, becoming a new artistic idiom for the Psychedelic Art of the 1960s and 1970s as well as a wide range of visual culture from the late 20th century to today, exemplified by American comics, Japanese manga and street murals. Coinciding with the opening of the new Mucha Museum in the baroque Savarin Palace in Prague, Timeless Mucha is organized into three thematic sections: Inspirations for the Mucha Style, Le Style Mucha, and Art Nouveau and The Rebirth of the Mucha Style and Its Legacy. The first two sections focus on Mucha’s artistic development, examining the theoretical basis of Mucha’s style—famously known as "le style Mucha" in fin-de-siècle Paris—and its context. Tracing the artist's footsteps from his youth in Moravia through the 1890s, when he attained fame as a poster artist, the first section highlights a selection of works of art, crafts and books from his own collection. The third section explores visual links between Mucha’s artistic idiom and the styles developed by later generations of artists. While Mucha's style continues to influence today's visual culture, including fashion, animation movies and computer games, this catalog also focuses on a philosophical aspect of Mucha's legacy: the art of message-making. This book was published in conjunction with D.A.P.
Vibrant and immersive installations from the first Indigenous artist to represent the US with a solo exhibition at the Venice Biennale This lush, comprehensive volume celebrates Jeffrey Gibson’s US Pavilion exhibition at the 60th Venice Biennale. The text and visuals braid together important strands that shaped the installation, public programming and performances, highlighting the themes of inclusivity, community, dignity and tradition. Framed by the pavilion and its activations, this volume unites innovative scholarship and criticism in original essays and in themes which emerged from the Institute of American Indian Arts’ Venice Indigenous Arts School and the Bard Center for Indigenous Studies convening, all interrogating diverse topics and using Gibson’s art and practice as their point of departure. Leading curators and critics engage with global exchanges and relationships emerging from Indigenous arts, intellectual and aesthetic traditions across Indigenous traditions, formal color study, as well as the complex, varied and rich references in Gibson’s work. Featuring spectacular photography, including behind-the-scenes studio shots, and poetic and performance interventions, this inventive and informative publication is a necessary companion to any collection on Gibson, contemporary art and Indigenous aesthetics. Jeffrey Gibson (born 1972) is an interdisciplinary artist and a member of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians and of Cherokee descent. He attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 1995 and received a master of arts in painting at the Royal College of Art, London, in 1998. Gibson conceived and coedited the landmark volume An Indigenous Present (2023), which showcases diverse approaches to Indigenous concepts, forms and mediums. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; National Gallery of Canada; Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian; and Whitney Museum of American Art, among others. Gibson is based in Hudson, NY and is currently an artist-in-residence at Bard College. This book was published in conjunction with Portland Art Museum; SITE Santa Fe; BIG NDN PRESS; Bard Center for Indigenous Studies
A celebration of the joyful power of African American quilts, featuring images of over 100 quilts, new research and essays The first publication dedicated to historical African American quilts in California, Routed West traces the flow and flourishing of quilts in the context of the Second Great Migration from 1940 to 1970. As millions of African Americans sought greater economic opportunities and freedom outside of the American South, hundreds of thousands initially arrived in the Golden State. Many migrants carried quilts as functional objects and physical reminders of the homes they left behind. They also brought their quiltmaking skills, extending the art form’s Southern roots to the western United States in the later part of the 20th century. Featuring vibrant images of over 100 quilts by nearly 90 individuals—the majority of whom are women and have ties to the San Francisco Bay Area—and new research, Routed West honors the resilience, self-determination, collective care and creative ingenuity of this distinctive migrant generation. Essays by scholars, curators, quilt historians and artists celebrate the joyful power of African American quilts as objects of beauty, memory and cultural reclamation within Black life, and explore the role of museums in their stewardship and preservation. This book accompanies a group exhibition of artworks drawn from the African American quilt collection at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. This book was published in conjunction with Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA)
Featuring new houses, many additional photographs and a new afterword, Fire Island Modernist offers a fascinating look at the history and culture of this "gay paradise" through the life and work of Horace Gifford As the 1960s became the "Sixties," architect Horace Gifford executed a remarkable series of beach houses that transformed the terrain and culture of New York’s Fire Island. Growing up on the beaches of Florida, Gifford forged a deep connection with coastal landscapes. Pairing this sensitivity with jazzy improvisations on modernist themes, he perfected a sustainable modernism in cedar and glass that was as attuned to natural landscapes as to our animal natures. Gifford’s serene 1960s pavilions provided refuge from a hostile world, while his exuberant post-Stonewall, pre-AIDS masterpieces orchestrated bacchanals of liberation. Marilyn Monroe, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift once spurned Hollywood limos for the rustic charm of Fire Island’s boardwalks. Truman Capote wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s here. Diane von Fürstenberg showed off her latest wrap dresses to an audience that included Halston, Giorgio Sant’ Angelo, Calvin Klein and Geoffrey Beene. Today, such a roster evokes the aloof, gated compounds of the Hamptons or Malibu. But these celebrities lived in modestly scaled homes alongside middle-class vacationers, all with equal access to Fire Island’s natural beauty. Blending cultural and architectural history, Fire Island Modernist ponders a fascinating era through an overlooked architect whose life, work and colorful milieu trace the operatic arc of a lost generation, and still resonate with artistic and historical import. First published in 2013 and long out of print, this iconic book returns in an expanded edition, including five new featured houses, drawings of previously unseen homes, new photography, updated scholarship and a new afterword by Charles Renfro. This book was published in conjunction with Gordon De Vries Studio
Combining representation and abstraction, Abney's vibrant works reference gender, sexuality and pop culture Committed to sharing social realities through fantastic, expansive forms, Nina Chanel Abney is an artist possessed of an iconic style and wit. Through stylized, cubistic and highly charged painterly symbols, she references radical traditions of graphic design and street art to communicate urgent political and cultural realities with immediacy to the largest possible audience. Abney’s paintings and collages use dynamic color and form to draw viewers into complex narratives. Big Butch Energy/Synergy features Abney’s recent exhibitions at ICA Miami and moCa Cleveland. In these works, Abney mines cinematic and media representations of student Greek life to explore how gender perception and performance is inspired by the legacies of social ritual and visual culture. The complex compositions reference scenes from popular slapstick comedy films such as National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978) and Porky’s (1981), while citing traditions of Baroque portraiture and fraternity composites. Inspired by her experience as a masculine-of-center woman, with this body of work Abney asks how viewers gender a figure in a work of art. Nina Chanel Abney was born in 1982 in Harvey, Illinois, and is based in New York, where she attended Parsons School of Design. Abney’s work is held in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Brooklyn Museum, New York; the Bronx Museum, New York; the Nasher Museum of Art, North Carolina; and the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, among others. This book was published in conjunction with Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami/Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland
Drawing on pop-culture archetypes and commercial materials, Da Corte’s foam, shampoo and glass paintings receive their first dedicated museum survey and publication Merging modernist color theory and Postminimalist spatial experiments with the crowded, beautiful trash-scape of contemporary culture, Alex Da Corte (born 1980) addresses sexuality, invisible labor, taste, power and desire. While most previous showcases have focused on Da Corte’s installations, The Whale is the first exhibition to survey his rich and eccentric relationship with painting over the past decade. As is to be expected with his irreverent approach, Da Corte paints with both traditional and unconventional materials. His Shampoo Paintings are created with drugstore hair products, while his Puffy Paintings consist of upholstered neoprene. Other works include his reverse paintings on glass, most commonly used in celluloid animation and commercial sign-making. Many of these paintings are published in book form for the first time, accompanied by Da Corte’s "Voice Memos" that elucidate his creative process. This book was published in conjunction with Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
The renowned Cree artist unmasks a whitewashed, Eurocentric history through provocative paintings full of sexuality and drama One of Canada’s most renowned artists, interdisciplinary Cree artist Kent Monkman challenges the art historical narrative of settler cultures that colonized First Peoples from North America. He incorporates influences from the canon of European and Euro-American painting, reframing historical, contemporary and speculative future Indigenous experiences. Taking inspiration from Western artists such as George Catlin, as well as from the Old Masters, Monkman’s monumental history paintings feature white colonizers in violent conflict with Indigenous people. The depictions range from early colonial encounters to modern and contemporary clashes between Indigenous communities and uniformed police or clergy. In borrowing the visual language of his oppressors, Monkman reclaims the narrative written by Western art history about the brutalization and cultural genocide carried out against Indigenous North American communities. History is Painted by the Victors accompanies the artist’s first major exhibition in the United States. The catalog gathers rich analysis of Monkman’s art from prominent scholars, expanding our understanding of his oeuvre and offering new insight via queer theory, historical and contemporary contexts, visual analysis and lived experience. Kent Monkman was born in 1965 in Ontario, Canada and is a member of Fisher River Cree First Nation in Treaty 5 Territory. Monkman’s works have been exhibited at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Montreal Museum of Fine Arts, Hayward Gallery, Philbrook Museum of Art, Palais de Tokyo and many more. He is the author of two bestselling novels, The Memoirs of Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, Volumes 1 and 2, which are based on his gender-fluid alter ego who often appears in Monkman’s work as a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being who reverses the colonial gaze to challenge received notions of history and Indigenous peoples. He lives and works in New York City and Toronto. This book was published in conjunction with Denver Art Museum; Montreal Museum of Fine Arts
Wilson invokes her own Black biracial identity in her mixed-media pieces, inspired by art historical traditions as much as the plants outside her door This first major monograph features nearly two decades of work by American artist Paula Wilson (born 1975), who frequently intermixes her identity as a Black biracial artist, living in a rural desert town in New Mexico, with narratives and motifs across time and place. Toward the Sky’s Back Door documents her wide-ranging career with essays by leading scholars Taylor Renee Aldridge, Ebony Y. Rhodes and Stephanie Sparling Williams, and a new interview with the artist. Wilson embraces a both/and approach to art and living, using the same techniques, materials and motifs to make rugs and clothing as she does for art on the gallery wall. Throughout her work, little to nothing is discarded, with scraps from one artwork recycled into another, reflecting both a practice of eco-sustainability and a model for creating something new from fragments left behind. This volume presents paintings, sculpture, prints, collages and videos, with different mediums frequently intermixed in a single work, ranging in scale from small paper-mosaic work to beyond-life-size female figures. This book was published in conjunction with Tang Museum
Exquisite works of contemporary Asian calligraphy and the written word Featuring more than 30 artists, Line, Form, Qi highlights contemporary works that range from the traditional to the deeply experimental. The publication features predominantly Chinese artists, along with Vietnamese, Taiwanese, Japanese and Korean artists working mainly with Chinese characters. The themes reflect significant trends and innovations in contemporary calligraphic art, including abstraction of the character, performance and phenomenological practice, and the exploration of alternative or nontraditional materials and calligraphy methods such as incense burn drawing and lithography. This publication also addresses different through lines from premodern calligraphy to contemporary practice, reflecting the evolution of the Chinese language from pictograph to ideograph and beyond. This book was published in conjunction with Los Angeles County Museum of Art
A memorial exhibition catalog highlighting the performance-inspired and staged works of one of the Netherlands’ most acclaimed photographers Dutch photographer Erwin Olaf emerged onto the Amsterdam photography scene in his early 20s. His first formal self-portrait shows influence from New York artists such as Andy Warhol and Robert Mapplethorpe, while also signaling the signatures of his aesthetic throughout his career: layering props and details in open-ended narrative relationships, leading viewers to fantasize about what story is being told. Throughout the 1980s, Olaf became a well-known and well-loved artist and gay rights activist in the Netherlands, photographing drag queens, bodybuilders, fetishists and celebrities at discotheques and other performances. Olaf’s artwork illuminated and celebrated underground scenes, claiming a spotlight for LGBTQ+ identities that expanded everyday possibilities for gay people throughout the Netherlands. This volume includes a selection of key series centered on the concept of performance, a recurring theme in the artist’s four-decade career. In particular, it delves into Olaf’s intimate and formal relationship with dance. The artist discussed ballet as a major source of inspiration for his personal work, in particular the precision and tension between beauty and gritty strength the genre requires. Olaf’s final completed series, Dance in Close Up (2022), represents a collaboration between the artist and choreographer Hans van Manen, celebrating their shared vision of evocative gesture and the gifts of the stage. Erwin Olaf was born in the Netherlands in 1959, and died there in 2023. His work is held in permanent collections such as the Rijksmuseum; the Fonds National d’Art Contemporain, Paris; and the Museum Ludwig, Cologne; and also circulates on the Dutch Euro coin.
A richly illustrated journey through the extraordinary cinematic worlds of beloved filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki For over four decades, Hayao Miyazaki has been enchanting audiences of all ages. His animation, often featuring children navigating unfamiliar and challenging worlds, offer timeless explorations of youth and what it means to grow up. Celebrated and admired around the globe for his artistic vision, craftsmanship and deeply humanistic values, Miyazaki has influenced generations of artists. The universal appeal of his evocative natural settings and complex characters, many among them strong girls and young women, cuts across cultural boundaries. This book is published on the occasion of the 2021 inaugural exhibition at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles, in collaboration with Studio Ghibli in Tokyo. It accompanies the first ever retrospective dedicated to the legendary filmmaker in North America and introduces hundreds of original production materials, including artworks never before seen outside of Studio Ghibli’s archives. Concept sketches, character designs, storyboards, layouts, backgrounds and production cels from his early career through all 11 of his feature films, including My Neighbor Totoro (1988), Kiki’s Delivery Service (1989), Princess Mononoke (1997), Spirited Away (2001) and Howl’s Moving Castle (2004), offer insight into Miyazaki’s creative process and masterful animation techniques.
This fresh look at photorealism argues for its continued relevance today This volume, Ordinary People, recovers the social art history of the long-dismissed genre of photorealism and demonstrates the continued relevance of photorealist strategies for artists working today. Spanning the 1960s to the present, this large-scale reexamination of the postwar art movement features the work of more than 40 artists, including paintings, drawings, sculptures and murals. It recasts the work of canonical and underrecognized photorealists of the 1960s and ’70s in new frameworks and identifies younger artists who have deployed photorealism as a vehicle for social/political critique. Unlike the typical photorealism survey, Ordinary People includes a diverse, multigenerational group of artists, with a focused look at the major contributions of women and BIPOC artists to the genre. It explores the representational politics of photorealist painting in the context of the recent rise of figurative portraiture and covers the myriad ways that artists, through this seemingly nonconfrontational aesthetic, have enticed viewers to confront painful historical events and social experiences. Artists: John Ahearn and Rigoberto Torres, Michael Alvarez, John Baeder, Judie Bamber, Gina Beavers, Robert Bechtle, Dike Blair, Andrea Bowers, Vija Celmins, Lenore Chinn, Chuck Close, Cynthia Daignault, Richard Estes, Audrey Flack, Ralph Goings, Sayre Gomez, Alfonso Gonzalez Jr., Duane Hanson, Barkley L. Hendricks, Nur Koçak, Jennifer J. Lee, Marilyn Levine, Sam Lipp, Hung Liu, Richard McLean, Marilyn Minter, Catherine Murphy, Calida Rawles, Ben Sakoguchi, Shizu Saldamando, Joan Semmel, Amy Sherald, Mamie Tinkler, Betty Tompkins, Jesse Treviño, Brittany Tucker, John Valadez, Vincent Valdez, Christine Tien Wang, Idelle Weber, Kehinde Wiley, Martin Wong, Takako Yamaguchi.
A visual exploration of cyberpunk and its global impact and lasting influence on cinema culture Cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction, first appeared in the early 1980s and uniquely captured the anxieties of the decade. Featuring near-future scenarios set in worlds that resemble our own, cyberpunk stories juxtapose technological advances with social upheaval, ecological crisis and urban decay. Central to these narratives are antihero characters who fight against corrupt political systems, technology gone haywire and global mega-corporations. Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures through Cinema examines the global impact and lasting influence of cyberpunk on cinema culture. Through rarely published behind-the-scenes photographs, film stills and concept art, the book spotlights iconic cyberpunk films such as Blade Runner, Tron and The Matrix; foundational animated features like Akira and Ghost in the Shell; and more recent releases such as Sleep Dealer, Pumzi, Night Raiders and Neptune Frost. More than 20 case studies written by critics, historians and filmmakers offer new perspectives on these films and their legacies. The book also features an in-depth introduction by curator Doris Berger; an essay by communications scholar Carlen Lavigne that discusses the genre’s 20th-century literary origins and the new, global directions it has taken in the 21st century; and an interview with filmmakers Danis Goulet and Wanuri Kahiu that reflects on the interplay among cyberpunk, Afrofuturism and Indigenous futurism.
How photographers from Nan Goldin to Leigh Ledare have portrayed intimacy and eros between themselves and their subjects A New York Times Book Review 2023 holiday gift guide pick Love Songs brings together series dating from 1952 to 2022 by established and emerging contemporary photographers that explore love, desire and intimacy in all their complex and contradictory ways. Among the major series reproduced here are Nan Goldin's seminal 1986 photobook The Ballad of Sexual Dependency; Nobuyoshi Araki's Sentimental Journey (1969) and Winter Journey (1989–90), which present the beginning and end of the relationship with his wife Yoko, from their honeymoon to her death; RongRong&inri's tender and poetical Polaroid series Personal Letters (2000); and Leigh Ledare's Double Bind (2010), a complex account of a love triangle between himself, his ex-wife and her new husband. These and the other series in Love Songs together make a portrait of love in all its risk, complexity, sensuality and tenderness. Photographers include: Nobuyoshi Araki, Motoyuki Daifu, Nan Goldin, Emmet Gowin, René Groebli, Hervé Guibert, Sheree Hovsepian, Clifford Prince King, Leigh Ledare, Lin Zhipeng, Sally Mann, RongRong&inri, Collier Schorr, Hideka Tonomura and Karla Hiraldo Voleau.
A bold reappraisal of Land art through the pioneering work of 12 women sculptors Using materials such as earth, wind, water, fire, wood, salt, rocks, mirrors and explosives, American artists of the 1960s began to move beyond the white cube gallery space to work directly in the land. With ties to Minimal and Conceptual art, these artists placed less emphasis on the discrete object and turned their attention to the experience of the artwork—however fleeting or permanent that might be—foregrounding natural materials and the site itself to create large-scale works located outside of typical urban art-world circuits. Histories of Land art have long been dominated by men, but Groundswell: Women of Land Art shifts that focus to shed new light on the vast number of earthworks by women artists. While their careers ran parallel to those of their better-known male counterparts, they have received less recognition and representation in museum presentations—until now. This book includes five scholarly essays, as well as a detailed chronology, exhibition checklist and illustrated biographies of exhibition artists. Groundswell is a resource for readers interested in understanding the historical Land art movement and our own relationship to the earth. Artists include: Lita Albuquerque, Alice Aycock, Beverly Buchanan, Agnes Denes, Maren Hassinger, Nancy Holt, Patricia Johanson, Ana Mendieta, Mary Miss, Jody Pinto, Michelle Stuart and Meg Webster.
A unique book embracing the verticality of Sheila Hicks’ work For decades, Sheila Hicks has engaged with color, texture and verticality, using textiles as her medium of choice. Her unique approach is informed by her interest in architecture, space, historical weaving traditions and innovations in fiber technology. This new bilingual publication (English and French) focuses on her cascading multicolored columns. Building on her earlier work and occupation with verticality, the columns have extended to new and spectacular settings, notably outdoors, refusing any traditional limitations, adapting to various environments, from the Art Gallery of New South Wales to the rocky hills of the French countryside and medieval castles. Hicks’ work has always been published in innovative formats, a result of her creative collaborations with designers. The book reflects the verticality that is crucial to Hicks’ towering fiber structures. It features stunning reproductions of the columns created by the artist over the last 10 years. The selection culminates in Hicks’ most recent installation, Vers des horizons inconnus in front of the Institut de France during Paris + in 2023. Radical Vertical Inquiries is an eye-popping, design-forward companion to Hicks’ work that shines on its own. Sheila Hicks was born in Nebraska in 1934 and has lived and worked in Paris since 1964. Her engagement with different cultures enables her to create and exhibit artworks, ranging from the miniature to the monumental, that have been exhibited at museums and other institutions around the world. Among her numerous awards are: U.S. State Department Medal of Arts (2023); Officier de la Légion d’Honneur, France (2022); Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts, Yale University (2019).
A monumental gathering of more than 60 contemporary artists, photographers, musicians, writers and more, showcasing diverse approaches to Indigenous concepts, forms and mediums — A Wall Street Journal 2023 holiday gift guide pick This landmark volume is a gathering of Native North American contemporary artists, musicians, filmmakers, choreographers, architects, writers, photographers, designers and more. Conceived by Jeffrey Gibson, a renowned artist of Mississippi Choctaw and Cherokee descent, An Indigenous Present presents an increasingly visible and expanding field of Indigenous creative practice. It centers individual practices, while acknowledging shared histories, to create a visual experience that foregrounds diverse approaches to concept, form and medium as well as connection, influence, conversation and collaboration. An Indigenous Present foregrounds transculturalism over affiliation and contemporaneity over outmoded categories. Artists include: Neal Ambrose-Smith, Teresa Baker, Natalie Ball, Laakkuluk Williamson Bathory, Rebecca Belmore, Andrea Carlson, Nani Chacon, Raven Chacon, Dana Claxton, Melissa Cody, Chris T. Cornelius, Lewis deSoto, Beau Dick, Demian DineYazhi’, Wally Dion, Divide and Dissolve, Korina Emmerich, Ka’ila Farrell-Smith, Yatika Starr Fields, Nicholas Galanin, Raven Halfmoon, Elisa Harkins, Luzene Hill, Anna Hoover, Sky Hopinka, Chaz John, Emily Johnson, Brian Jungen, Brad Kahlhamer, Sonya Kelliher-Combs, Adam Khalil, Zack Kahlil, Kite, Layli Long Soldier, Erica Lord, Cannupa Hanska Luger, Tanya Lukin Linklater, James Luna, Dylan McLaughlin, Meryl McMaster, Caroline Monnet, Audie Murray, New Red Order, Jamie Okuma, Laura Ortman, Katherine "KP" Paul/Black Belt Eagle Scout, Postcommodity, Wendy Red Star, Eric-Paul Riege, Cara Romero, Sara Siestreem, Rose B. Simpson, Jaune Quick-to-See Smith, Hulleah J. Tsinhnahjinnie, Anna Tsouhlarakis, Arielle Twist, Marie Watt, Dyani White Hawk and Zoon a.k.a. Daniel Glen Monkman.
Chronicles of sex and disco in ’70s San Francisco, from the revolutionary musician behind “You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)” Patrick Cowley (1950–82) was one of the most revolutionary and influential figures in electronic dance music. Born in Buffalo, Cowley moved to San Francisco in 1971 to study music at the City College of San Francisco. By the mid '70s, his synthesizer techniques landed him a job composing and producing songs for disco diva Sylvester, including hits such as "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)." Cowley created his own brand of peak-time party music known as Hi-NRG, dubbed "the San Francisco Sound." His life was cut short on November 12, 1982, when he died shortly after his 32nd birthday from AIDS-related illness. Mechanical Fantasy Box is Cowley's homoerotic journal, or, as he called it, "graphic accounts of one man's sex life." The journal begins in 1974 and ends in 1980 on his 30th birthday. It chronicles his slow rise to fame from lighting technician at the City Disco to crafting his ground-breaking 16-minute remix of Donna Summer's "I Feel Love" to performing with Sylvester at the SF Opera House. Vivid descriptions are told of cruising in '70s SoMA sex venues, ecstatic highs in Buena Vista Park and composing "pornophonics" in his Castro apartment. For this book, artist Gwenaël Rattke created 25 original illustrations inspired by selected entries, three street maps documenting locations mentioned herein, and four collages of photos, ephemera and notes that Cowley had inserted in the journal. This book shows a very out-front, alive person going through the throes of gay liberation post-Stonewall.
A fresh look at Beuys' environmental work and the social change it continues to inspire Grounded in The Broad’s collection of multiples by Joseph Beuys (1921–86), In Defense of Nature centers the German artist’s commitment to environmental justice. The project traces Beuys’ long history of activism, from founding alternative organizations such as the Organization for Direct Democracy to his involvement in Germany’s Green Party. These efforts culminated in Beuys’ last major project, 7,000 Oaks, which involved planting 7,000 trees accompanied by stones throughout the city of Kassel, Germany, from 1982 to 1987. Beuys’ concept inspired Social Forest: Oaks of Tovaangar, a reforestation project in Los Angeles inaugurated as part of the PST ART initiative. With programs that address overlapping issues of environmental justice, reconciliation, and restoration, Social Forest highlights the continued impact of 7,000 Oaks and brings new meaning to Beuys' legacy four decades later, in a vastly different landscape that equally demands repair.
Portrayals of James Baldwin and others in his circle highlight the iconic writer’s activism The American writer and activist James Baldwin (1924–87) considered himself a “witness” as he challenged perspectives on America and its history through his work. He was often recognized for speaking out against injustice when other like-minded artists, collaborators and organizers were overshadowed or silenced. By bringing together artworks that feature James Baldwin alongside portraits of other key figures who had an impact on his life, This Morning, This Evening, So Soon situates Baldwin among a pantheon of culture bearers who were instrumental in shaping his life and legacy, particularly in relationship to his advocacy for gay rights. The book accompanies an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC, curated by the National Portrait Gallery's Director of Curatorial Affairs, Rhea L. Combs, in consultation with Pulitzer Prize–winning author Hilton Als. Well-known portraits by Beauford Delaney and Bernard Gotfryd are shown alongside paintings, photographs and films representing key figures in Baldwin’s circle. By viewing Baldwin in this context of community, readers will come to understand how Baldwin’s sexuality and faith, artistic curiosities and notions of masculinity—coupled with his involvement in the civil rights movement—helped shape his writing and long-lasting legacy. The book relies on portraiture to explore the interwoven lives of Baldwin, Lorraine Hansberry (writer and activist), Barbara Jordan (lawyer, educator and politician), Bayard Rustin (leader in social movements), Lyle Ashton Harris (artist), Essex Hemphill (poet and activist), Marlon Riggs (filmmaker, poet and activist) and Nina Simone (singer-songwriter, pianist and activist), among others. Artists include: Richard Avedon, Glenn Ligon, Donald Moffett, Beauford Delaney, Bernard Gotfryd, Faith Ringgold, Lorna Simpson, Jack Whitten.
A revelatory trove of innovative photo collages, photograms, photographs and photocopies—many never before published—most reproduced at the size DeFeo printed them This monograph on the legendary and influential artist Jay DeFeo features over 150 photographic works—many never before published—most reproduced at the size the artist printed them. After the completion of her monumental masterpiece The Rose in 1966, DeFeo moved from the heart of artistic activity in San Francisco to a small house in Marin County, California. There she embarked on a focused and rigorous exploration with the camera. For much of the 1970s, she used the camera as a tool to look and think with, creating a wide range of black-and-white photographs she processed in her darkroom. The artist used experimental photographic techniques to produce extraordinary artworks, alongside documentary images of her studio and paintings in process. Her contact sheets, some of which are reproduced here, are often filled with multiple views of one object, revealing the way DeFeo looked and sketched with the lens. In 1972 she wrote: "My interest in photography has always paralleled my expression as a painter." Essays by Hilton Als, Judith Delfiner, Corey Keller, Justine Kurland, Dana Miller and Catherine Wagner survey the rich materiality, sculptural layering and illusionistic devices of DeFeo’s playful and enigmatic photographic works, illuminating her astonishing range and daring experimentation with the medium. Jay DeFeo (1929–89) was a Bay Area artist who created an original and provocative body of work, including the iconic painting The Rose (1958–66). In the 1970s and 1980s, DeFeo continued her visionary work in a range of mediums, including works on paper, photography, collage and photocopies. Among many other exhibitions, a retrospective of her work was organized by the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and traveled to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2012.
Haring as activist and egalitarian: a fresh, accessible and dynamic look at one of New York’s most exhilarating artists Lavishly illustrated with essays and reflections by cultural leaders, Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody surveys Haring’s dynamic art practice from 1978 to 1990, shining a bright light on the iconic and beloved artist known for his fluid, uniform lines, intricate compositions and repeating imagery such as the barking dog and radiant baby. Forty years after he came to prominence, Haring’s art continues to garner worldwide recognition, breaking down barriers and spreading joy, while taking on complex issues that remain crucial today, from environmentalism, capitalism and the proliferation of new technologies to religion, sexuality and race. Titled after a quote from Haring’s journals, Art Is for Everybody centers on the artist’s activism, the emphasis he placed on community and his egalitarian approach to art and life. The volume is organized chronologically and thematically, emphasizing Haring’s work made with publics in mind such as the subway drawings and murals, his collaborative practice and his unflinching belief that art is essential in making a better world. Keith Haring was born in Reading, Pennsylvania, in 1958 and arrived in New York from Pittsburgh in 1978, befriending artists including Kenny Scharf and Jean-Michel Basquiat. During the 1980s, Haring achieved international recognition and participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions. After being diagnosed with HIV in 1988, he focused his activism on the AIDS crisis. Less than two years later, Haring died of an AIDS-related illness.
Previously unseen journals, letters, sketches and more from the vast personal archive of Leonard Cohen Leonard Cohen is renowned the world over for his meditations on beauty, death, loss and the human heart. The objects, papers and artifacts from Cohen’s personal archive provide fresh insight into the artist’s creative pursuits and the arc of his career over six decades. Aware from an early age that he was destined to make a mark on this world, Cohen preserved an expansive collection of letters, journals, manuscripts, sketches and records. Together, they provide a rich visual road map to his evolution as a poet and songwriter. The first publication to present the holdings of the Leonard Cohen Family Trust, Everybody Knows: Inside His Archive immerses readers in the many facets of Cohen’s creative life. Images of rare concert footage and archival materials, including musical instruments, notebooks, lyrics and letters, are featured alongside photographs, drawings and digital art created by Cohen across several decades. Leonard Cohen (1934–2016) was a Canadian poet, singer-songwriter and novelist. Born and educated in Montreal, Cohen began his artistic career in 1956 with the publication of his first book of poetry, Let Us Compare Mythologies. Over his long and productive career, he published two novels, The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966), and numerous books of poetry, including Stranger Music: Selected Poems and Songs (1993). He recorded more than a dozen music albums, and numerous tribute albums have celebrated his songs in various languages. He died in Los Angeles in 2016 and was secretly buried in Montreal a few days later.
