Ideal Worlds: New Romanticism In Contemporary Art

by David Altmejd (Artist), Hernan Bas (Artist), Peter Doig (Artist)

In an age of increasing mobility and dissolving social bonds, the yearning for intimacy and security grows steadily stronger in western society. Plagued by uncertainty in the face of turbulent social and political systems and a sense of vulnerability generated by endless reports of war and horrific images of terror, many people are turning away from reality in search of safe havens and newly hopeful perspectives. Ideal Worlds explores the parallel reflection of this social trend in contemporary visual art. A new spirit of Romanticism is being revived in earnest by a number of young artists, from painters to new media practitioners, each of them in search of beauty, paradise lost and the fictional world of fairytales. In some works, an emphasis on the individual and individual feelings goes hand in hand with a re-awakening interest in the landscape and its symbolic qualities. New Romanticism in Contemporary Art presents the work of some 15 artists, among them Justine Kurland, Catherine Opie, Laura Owens and Christian Ward.

304 pages, Hardcover

First published July 15, 2005

Reviews

[Rachell · Rating 3 out of 5]

so far, this book is my new best friend