Michael Landy: H2NY

by Michael Landy (artist)

Drawing upon Jean Tinguely’s Homage to New York (1960) performance, British artist Michael Landy’s re-enactment is explored in this volume. On March 17, 1960, Jean Tinguely staged his infamous sculpture-performance Homage to New York in the garden of the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The piece destroyed itself in only 27 minutes, a source of lifetime fascination and inspiration for Landy. Best known for his Break Down project (2001) – during which he destroyed the totality of his possessions in an Oxford Street department store in London – Landy has paid homage to Tinguely’s piece. Accompanying reproductions of 40 of Landy’s studies on paper and David Ghar’s photography of Tinguely’s original performance, a text by Barry Schwabsky links both artists and projects.

93 pages, Hardcover

First published September 10, 2007

About the author

Michael Landy RA (born 1963) is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs). He is best known for the performance piece installation Break Down (2001), in which he destroyed all his possessions, and for the Art Bin project (2010) at the South London Gallery. On 29 May 2008, Landy was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Arts in London.