Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists’ Writings

by Kristine Stiles (Editor), Peter Selz

First published in 1996, this irreplaceable resource has now been updated, revised, and expanded by Kristine Stiles to represent thirty countries and more than one hundred new artists. Stiles has added forty images and a diverse roster of artists, including many who have emerged since the 1980s, such as Julie Mehretu, Carrie Mae Weems, Damien Hirst, Shirin Neshat, Cai Guo-Qian, Olafur Eliasson, Matthew Barney, and Takashi Murakami. The writings, which as before take the form of artists' statements, interviews, and essays, make vivid each artist's aesthetic approach and capture the flavor and intent of his or her work. The internationalism evident in this revised edition reflects the growing interest in the vitality of contemporary art throughout the world from the U.S. and Europe to the Middle East, Asia, Africa, Latin America, and Australia.

Genres: Art, Art History, Nonfiction, Reference, Philosophy, Art Design, Essays

1168 pages, Paperback

First published April 18, 1995

About the author

Carolee Schneemann is a multidisciplinary artist whose painting, photography, film, video, performance art, and installation works have been shown at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris), the National Film Theatre (London), and Anthology Film Archives (New York). She is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Womens Caucus for Art and the author of Imaging Her Erotics, More Than Meat Joy, and Cezanne, She Was a Great Painter, among other publications."

Reviews

[Jaeyde · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you want to know for real how cracked out your favorite contemporary artist is, find his/her essay within, read, go "wtf?", read it again in case you missed something, go "wtf?" again, vow to never read artists' statements again, feel better and move on with life.

[Sherri Haymond]

Kristine was one of my professors at Duke, and I learned more from her than any other teacher I've ever had. This is tremendous collection of artists' writings. Essential for anyone interested in art history, cultural studies and everything in between.

[Evan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Essays, interviews, manifestos -- primary documents from fantastic visual artists across the 20th c. But it's divided not by group or time, but by issues: sections like "Geometric Abstraction," "Figuration," "Material Culture and Everyday Life," "Process," "Installations," "Language" -- it's all there and you've got artists from across the spectrum elbowing one another to describe how these issues can be addressed.

A great book to dip into here and there. And if you make somekinda art on your own, reading others describe their thought- or work-process, especially in another medium, can get your engine running.

[Eliza · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is so important, I have 2 copies! I reference it all the time. Highly recommended.

[KG Gardner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Research for DPhil thesis

[G.J. Wielinga · Rating 5 out of 5]

Obviously this thick and complicated compilation of artists texts is not a book to read in one go, but to keep on ones shelve in order to have some statement, interview or diary entry of one of the many (100? 150?) contemporary artists (before 2012) ready for when that time comes when one wonders why a specific contemporary artist is so hard to get. Not that these texts will make it any easier.

Tasting the texts in this book makes one thing very clear: most contemporary artists are not writers, and if they can write, the prose can be unnecessarily complicated or focussed on things that have no meaning without the context of their work.

I did find an interesting sentence by Cindy Sherman from 1982: "Believing in one's own art becomes harder and harder when the public response grows fonder." And there are many other tidbids worth pauzing at.

Nevertheless, I'm totally happy to be able to read directly from the artists I admire, even if it seems all they do is torture themselves. Perhaps that is the warning of this book: don't become an artist if you want to remain sane.

[Tami H · Rating 3 out of 5]

This text was hard to follow and it was not written in friendly way. But still some of the parts were fascinating.

[Anleigh Breedon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bought this book for my art history class in college. It's super insightful of the artists thoughts on their own work.

[Paméla S · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great reference book. I bought the second edition and it featured lots of different writing styles, including essays by installation and performance artists.

[F.T. · Rating 5 out of 5]

I definitely referred to this book many times during my undergrad in fine arts. The large size was daunting at first, but once I became familiar with some of the artists I referred to it more and more frequently. As a developing artist it was useful being able to read how artists describe their own work and thought processes, and covers a variety of artists over time (some are still practicing today).

In the absence of contemporary art "canon" post 2000, I'd really love to see an updated version of this!

[Erin J. Mullikin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of primary sources that are some of the coolest interviews I've ever read. If you're a fan of modern art and enjoy reading interviews, essays, and process descriptions, I suggest obtaining a copy of this book. While it is fairly expensive, amazon.com has good prices for used copies.

[Katie · Rating 5 out of 5]

required reading for anyone into art. excellent resource for art thoughts by the people who make it. chock full of interviews, artist's statements, journals, etc. from pollock to jenny holzer.

[Sergio Pizzo Barrale · Rating 5 out of 5]

all time favorite!!
read it in parts.
a lot of important documents

[Christina knox · Rating 5 out of 5]

a pretty good indexical reference to being completely full of shit.

[Bethany]

ah, art school. i actually read all of my art school text books, still have them, and still use them.

[Nicholas McPhail · Rating 5 out of 5]

highly recommended for anyone interested in contemporary art theory.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

Digesting.

[Matty · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good interviews, but it is mostly painters. Very narrow view of contemporary art when it comes to mediums. Good source book for direct writings from the artists though.

[A · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow! And whew! An extremely comprehensive look at a period of art with examples of writing and interviews with many, many artists.

[James Carroll · Rating 5 out of 5]

Big, thick and a lot of information, but well worth the few months it took to read.

[tallulah · Rating 5 out of 5]

also a classic

[Mills College Library]

709.04 T3964 2012