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Brush Fires in the Social Landscape
Book by Lippard, Lucy R., etc.
80 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2000
4 people are currently reading
459 people want to read
About the author
Lucy R. Lippard
210 books139 followersSince 1966, Lippard has published 20 books on feminism, art, politics and place and has received numerous awards and accolades from literary critics and art associations. A 2012 exhibition on her seminal book, Six Years: The Dematerialization of the Art Object at the Brooklyn Museum, titled "Six Years": Lucy R. Lippard and the Emergence of Conceptual Art", cites Lippard's scholarship as its point of entry into a discussion about conceptual art during its era of emergence, demonstrating her crucial role in the contemporary understanding of this period of art production and criticism. Her research on the move toward dematerialization in art making has formed a cornerstone of contemporary art scholarship and discourse.
Co-founder of Printed matter (an art bookstore in New York City centered around artist's books), the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D), Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists' organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, comics, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico. She has infused aesthetics with politics, and disdained disinterestedness for ethical activism.
Co-founder of Printed matter (an art bookstore in New York City centered around artist's books), the Heresies Collective, Political Art Documentation/Distribution (PAD/D), Artists Call Against U.S. Intervention in Central America, and other artists' organizations, she has also curated over 50 exhibitions, done performances, comics, guerrilla theater, and edited several independent publications the latest of which is the decidedly local La Puente de Galisteo in her home community in Galisteo, New Mexico. She has infused aesthetics with politics, and disdained disinterestedness for ethical activism.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 3, 2015
This is a brilliant place to start for any one who wishes to know more about the life and work of David Wojnarowicz.
I have some of his memoirs and writings but I wanted to know more about his art. This volume brings his art (photography and paintings) together with some of his writing and includes essays written about him by his close friends and people who knew him. In this way the volume presents a picture of the life of Wojnarowicz and explains the thinking behind his art. It is a fitting tribute to someone who died so young and it also enables easy access to his art.
Together everything makes a profound statement about his life and the way in which he spoke out during the AIDS crisis using his art to speak prophetically about justice and power in American society. He had deep insight into the way power is held and used by institutions and the way in which people are pushed to the margins by such institutions.
It took me time to read through this book but it isn't a book to be rushed. I think it is right to read it in a contemplative way so as to learn from it. I now feel that I am better prepared to engage with some of Wojnarowicz's writings.
I have given this book five stars but really it is the kind of book that stands apart from any rating system. No rating system is truly worthy of it. It is a volume of writing and art that I will revisit once I have finished his journals. Well worth the purchase price and a book which examines the underbelly of our societies not just in America but all of the global North.
I have some of his memoirs and writings but I wanted to know more about his art. This volume brings his art (photography and paintings) together with some of his writing and includes essays written about him by his close friends and people who knew him. In this way the volume presents a picture of the life of Wojnarowicz and explains the thinking behind his art. It is a fitting tribute to someone who died so young and it also enables easy access to his art.
Together everything makes a profound statement about his life and the way in which he spoke out during the AIDS crisis using his art to speak prophetically about justice and power in American society. He had deep insight into the way power is held and used by institutions and the way in which people are pushed to the margins by such institutions.
It took me time to read through this book but it isn't a book to be rushed. I think it is right to read it in a contemplative way so as to learn from it. I now feel that I am better prepared to engage with some of Wojnarowicz's writings.
I have given this book five stars but really it is the kind of book that stands apart from any rating system. No rating system is truly worthy of it. It is a volume of writing and art that I will revisit once I have finished his journals. Well worth the purchase price and a book which examines the underbelly of our societies not just in America but all of the global North.
June 5, 2015
During his brief lifetime, David Wojnarowicz produced some beautiful, daring, and provocative work. Much of his work became a flashpoint for conservatives in the 1980s, and discussion tended to focus on his status as AIDS activist rather than his achievements as an artist. This new Aperture book focuses on the role photography played in his work, and combines many images with thoughtful essays. I found Lucy Lippard's essay to be particularly insightful (no surprise there), as well as Fran Lebowitz's interview with Melissa Harris. There are many other pieces by friends and collaborators discussing Wojnarowicz and his work, but I think it's time to move from seeing him as a "tragic figure" to seeing him for the gifted, in-your-face artist that he really was. This book moves in the right direction.
February 10, 2024
David Wojnarowicz is one of my favorite queer writers, full stop. However, he was best known in his life for his visual art, and truthfully, I’ve always felt he was a better writer than a visual artist, and this book confirmed that for me. Sorry!
Breaking it down further, his art which includes text is usually pretty compelling. He had a message, and he pushed that message out into the world. I like his Rimbaud photos. But his paintings often have too much going on in them, and formally aren’t all that impressive to me. It looks like art anyone could have made, and I think the importance of his work was distorted by high profile conflicts with Donald Wilson and the American Family Association.
Still, what I have appreciated most from him is how he writes with a painter’s eye. This is most clear in work like Closer to the Knives, where he can vividly sketch urban social decay and lives obliterated by AIDS. In that sense, his visual work and written work are intricately connected. But for me, it’s always the latter than stands out the most.
Breaking it down further, his art which includes text is usually pretty compelling. He had a message, and he pushed that message out into the world. I like his Rimbaud photos. But his paintings often have too much going on in them, and formally aren’t all that impressive to me. It looks like art anyone could have made, and I think the importance of his work was distorted by high profile conflicts with Donald Wilson and the American Family Association.
Still, what I have appreciated most from him is how he writes with a painter’s eye. This is most clear in work like Closer to the Knives, where he can vividly sketch urban social decay and lives obliterated by AIDS. In that sense, his visual work and written work are intricately connected. But for me, it’s always the latter than stands out the most.
February 29, 2024
Essays written with such admiration, and one of the most beautiful hardback covers underneath that dust jacket.
July 28, 2020
A unique eulogy of a troubled man. To see Wojnarowicz portrayed in such a warm light by so many friends tousles the romanticized notion of a lonely artist. There's a protectiveness in the way his friends discuss his anger. Lebowitz's interview is particularly thoughtful... anger may not always be productive, but it is a signifier that one cares. I think Wojnarowicz had a bigger heart than us all. May we all aspire to retain some of that fire.
March 10, 2024
pg. 28 his painting is a true favorite because he puts texture onto the exact way queerconnection feels like an abrasive sandpaper angry salvation, dissolving into each other, changing our surfaces, in brutal times.
Some insomnia tn, trying to channel unanchored feelings. Reading his friend's memorials makes me cry.
Some insomnia tn, trying to channel unanchored feelings. Reading his friend's memorials makes me cry.
July 17, 2007
this is a collection of david's artwork, along with writings by his friends and interviews with his contemporaries. his artwork always stuns me, his writing moves me.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews