Contemporary art in a nutshell (TASCHEN's 25th anniversary special edition) This Art Now 25th anniversary special edition brings together recent work and biographical information for over 80 of today's most influential artists, forming a broad and vibrant spectrum of the work that has shaped the art world in recent years. Featured artists include: Matthew Barney, Maurizio Cattelan, John Currin, Tacita Dean, Thomas Demand, Rineke Dijkstra, Douglas Gordon, Andreas Gursky, Thomas Hirschhorn, Damien Hirst, Mike Kelley, Martin Kippenberger, Jeff Koons, Sharon Lockhart, Won Ju Lim, Paul McCarthy, Mariko Mori, Sarah Morris, Vik Muniz, Takashi Murakami, Shirin Neshat, Albert Oehlen, Chris Ofili, Gabriel Orozco, Jorge Pardo, Elizabeth Peyton, Thomas Ruff, Cindy Sherman, Thomas Struth, Wolfgang Tillmans, Rirkrit Tiravanija, Luc Tuymans, Jeff Wall, and Andrea Zittel.
The value of this book for me was informing me of today's artists, most of whom are my age more or less.
Again, like the last book, I found the language obscure and pretentious. I learned nothing as to why any of the artists used certain mediums, what they were trying to express through their mediums or what motivated them.
Here's an example of how the artists described their work:
"I want people to feel drenched in time."
"To be defeated, power must be approached, reappropriated (sic) and endlessly replicated."
"Everything must be noticeable for its foulness."
"I once called my pictures post-non-representational painting and later I called them Procrustean painting....I mean being unmerciful with materials."
I mean you can't even make fun of that because the artists are already parodies.
Expected highpoints: the humanity of John Currin and the brilliance of Takashi Murakami.
Surprising highpoints: the modern surreal interpretations of Glenn Brown, the perceptions of reality and our culture from the uncommon viewpoint of Andreas Gursky, and what I call the aboriginally-influenced work of Chris Ofili.