Mark Mothersbaugh: Myopia

by Wes Anderson (Preface), Adam Lerner (Editor)

Mark Mothersbaugh is a legendary figure for fans of both street art and music culture. Cofounder of the seminal New Wave band DEVO, he was a prolific visual artist before the band's inception moving seamlessly between multiple mediums creating bold, cartoonish, strangely disturbed works of pop surrealism that playfully explore the relationship between technology and individuality. In the most comprehensive presentation of his work to date, Mark Myopia features a lifetime of his creative inventions from the beginning of his artistic career in the 1970s to his most recent work, including early postcards, screen prints, decals, and DEVO ephemera as well as later paintings, photographs (such as the celebrated Beautiful Mutants series), sculpture, and rugs. Accompanied by a major six city traveling exhibition, this richly illustrated catalog positions Mothersbaugh as a pivitol figure in the history of both contemporary art and indie culture.

Genres: Art

256 pages, Hardcover

First published September 30, 2014

About the author

Wesley Wales Anderson is an American director, writer, and producer of features, short films and commercials. He was nominated for a 2001 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay for The Royal Tenenbaums.

Reviews

[Barry Hammond · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most people know Mark Mothersbaugh as a member of the New Wave band DEVO (with songs like the robotic version of The Rolling Stone's "Satisfaction", their hit "Whip It," or other songs which had remarkable videos such as "Freedom Of Choice," "That's Good," "Girl U Want," "Peek-A-Boo,") or as a composer of film and television scores such as Pee-Wee's Playhouse, Wes Anderson's films (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou), Thor: Ragnarok and many others. Few realize he's been a multi-discipline artist, starting with writing, drawing, collage, printmaking, rubber stamp art, mail art, postcard art, painting, film-making, sculpture, woven nylon rug design, the making of sound installations for galleries. DEVO actually began as performance art and in films, before becoming an actual band. The essays in this book for his first major retrospective show how his recurrent themes have been present in all forms and how he's been a major pioneer in this poly-art field. - BH.

[Dawn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great and sadly one of only a few Mark Mothersbaugh books. Really enjoyed this deep dive into his artwork from over the years. Although I am a huge Devo and Mothersbaugh fan I feel Lerner often overstates Mothersbaugh's importance within art history and culture; often acting like he is the apex of modern art, I don't think this is true or even necessary to state. Aside from that a very beautiful and welcome book.

[Millicent · Rating 3 out of 5]

I’ve never really delved into Mothersbaugh’s artwork - mostly just his music career - so this book was really fun for me. I loved getting to see all of these pieces and postcards that he hid from the public for so long - it was a trip.

My only complaint is that the writer was just so damn wordy with everything - where it could’ve been shortened several times. I would have also liked more interview time with Mark - as the book was mainly other people praising him - it would have been nice to hear from him more.

Overall, a gorgeous and fun book - will probably keep it on my coffee table for guests :)

[Courtney Golden · Rating 4 out of 5]

very good companion book to the art exhibit

[Esther · Rating 5 out of 5]

Mark Mothersbaugh is so prolific and inspiring.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

10 stars out of 5

[Gregory Kuchmek · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great collection of Mark's work here! Pretty good text too! Gives us a good bit of Devo history and what lead up to this book. If you're a Devo fan or just into pop art, don't miss this.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Another arrival from Princeton Architectural Press was Myopia, the career-spanning retrospective for DEVO co-founder and all-around Renaissance Man Mark Mothersbaugh. For those who only know Mothersbaugh from DEVO and his scores for video games and films like The Lego Movie, the sheer amount of info in this 256-page survey will come as an eye-opener. Like fellow intellectual rocker David Byrne, Mothersbaugh is a talented visual artist in his own right, and it’s proven in this book with colorful, absurdist imagery from a period of more than 40 years. I always found it amazing that something as subversive and weird as DEVO emerged from mid-’70s Ohio – this book helps put that into context and shows Mothersbaugh’s (considerable) role in the emergence of punk and alt-culture. Roughly the first third is long-form essays and an interview, well-illustrated with photos, collages, sketches and other mementos. The rest showcases Mothersbaugh’s art projects such as 'Beautiful Mutants' (mirror-image transmogrifications of stagy old photos of children) and 'Rugs' (creepy-crawly pen and ink drawings rendered in latch-hook rugs). A final section displays (along with an appreciative write-up) a bewildering array of hand-drawn postcards – hundreds of illustrated missives from one twisted mind." - Scrubbles.net review, April 13, 2015.