The Artist's Body - Softcover

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Softcover

ISBN 10: 0714847011 ISBN 13: 9780714847016

Publisher: Phaidon Press, 2006

An Intriguing and Diverse Survey of Some of the Most ImportantArtists of the Century; New Affordable Format.As part of its critically-acclaimed "Themes and Movements" series, PhaidonPress is pleased to announce the new edition of THE ARTIST'S BODY, acompelling look at the artists' use of self and body as object and subjectin their work, a movement that represents the state of contemporary art andmakes a wider comment on the human condition.Bound or beaten naked orpainted, still or spasmodic: the artist lives his or her art publicly inperformance or privately in video and photography.Amelia Jones' surveyexamines the most significant works in the context of social history andTracey Warr's selection of documents combines writings by artists, criticsand philosophers.Beginning with such key artists as Marcel Duchamp and Jackson Pollock, thisbook examines a selection of the most significant players who have usedtheir bodies to create their art - among them, in the 1960s CaroleeSchneemann, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Yoko Ono; in the 1970s, Chris Burden, AnaMendieta, Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic; up to the turn of the millennium,Matthew Barney, Mac Quinn, Tracey Emin and Mona Hatoum.In the survey, Amelia Jones, among the world experts in the field,discusses performance and body art against the background of socialhistory.She examines the breakdown of barriers between art and life,visual and sensual experience - how artists have expanded and renewed theage-old tradition of self-portraiture, moving art out of the gallery intounexpected spaces and media. Each image is accompanied by an extendedcaption. The works are organized thematically.* Painting Bodies, concerns work that shows the trace, stain or imprintof the artist's body in response to the paint-on-canvas tradition. * Gesturing Bodies, examines artists who transform the body - its acts,its gesture - into art, gesture, behavior and situations are used in placeof art objects.* Ritualistic and Transgressive Bodies, looks at work which uses thebody to enact challenges to the social expectations of the body, often inrituals that perform a cathartic function.Mutilation and sacrifice areused to rupture personal and social homogeneity. * Body Boundaries, examines boundaries between the individual body andthe social environment and between the inside and outside of the bodyitself. * Performing Identity, looks at issues of representation and identity. * Absent Bodies, explores absence and the mortality of the body throughphotography, casting, imprints or remnants of the body.* In Extended and Prosthetic Bodies, the body is extended throughprosthetics or technology, to explore cyberspace and alternative states ofconsciousness.Parallel to the illustrated works of art, this section combines texts bycritics who shaped the movement, from Lucy R. Lippard to Thomas McEvilley. Alongside these writings by philosophers and thinkers such as GeorgeBataille and Gilles Deleuze who have contributed on a theoretical level tothe discussion around the body - a prevalent theme in twentieth-centurycultural theory.THE ARTIST'S BODY is a powerful and poignant look at an increasinglysignificant movement and art form.This book is an essential referencethat examines some of the most cutting edge and innovative artists of ourtime.This new affordable edition is perfect for students of theater andart as well as anyone with an interest in contemporary art.

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From the Publisher:

Body art, performance, "Aktionism", Happenings: these are all names for the many late 20th century art forms that have used the artist's own body as the subject and object of the artwork itself. Whether acting out the gestures of painting (Jackson Pollock, Yves Klein, the Gutai group); voguing for the camera (Hannah Wilke, Mariko Mori); subjecting oneself to acts of violence (Chris Burden, Gunter Brus, Gina Pane); displaying acts of athletic prowess and courage (Matthew Barney, Marina Abramovic); or even masturbating under the gallery floor (Vito Acconci), artists since the late 1950s have increasingly used their bodies to subvert, shock and politicise contemporary art. Images of these often extreme, highly unconventional artwork with commentary are accompanied by documents which chart the ideas, their critical reception and the broader philosophical and cultural context which framed them. The introductory survey, by noted expert Amelia Jones, examines chronologically the key artists and works within the social history of their times.

About the Author:

Tracey Warr is an independent British curator and writer. She was previously Lecturer in Fine Art at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford and Researcher in Site-specific Art at the Surrey Institute of Art and Design, Farnham, Surrey (1997-99). Warr is currently Director of Arts and Cultural Management at Dartington College of Art Totnes, Devon.

Amelia Jones is Head of Art History and Pilkington Chair at the University of Manchester. As curator, Jones has organized exhibitions including `Sexual Politics: Judy Chicago's Dinner Party in Feminist Art History' at the UCLA/Armand Hammer Museum (1996). Amelia Jones is noted for her essays on many artists who center their imagery on their own bodies, among them Vito Acconci, Chris Burden, Robert Morris and Cindy Sherman.

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