Theft Is Vision: Collected Writings and Interviews

by Bob Nickas (Contributor)

"Theft is Vision" gathers essays and interviews from the past ten years by the influential New York critic and curator Bob Nickas, offering a personal, shoot-from-the-hip take on the American art scene. More of a fan than a theorist, Nickas views art through a focused, subcultural lens; he pursues overlooked figures such as graphic designers Art Chantry and Jamie Reid, post-punk legends The Fall, cult artists Cady Noland and Steven Parrino; collaborates on photo/text pieces with Trisha Donnelly and John Miller; and offers a fictional conversation between Andy Warhol and On Kawara. Interviews with Philip Taaffe and Jeff Wall reflect on the 80s, while those with Wolfgang Tillmans (not previously published) and Kelley Walker bring us into the present. Since 1985, Nickas has organized over 60 exhibitions for galleries and museums as an independent curator. As Curatorial Advisor at P.S. 1 from 2003-2007, he organized more than 20 exhibitions, including "Stephen Shore: American Surfaces, Wolfgang Tillmans: Fredom From The Known, William Gedney-Christopher Wool: Into the Night, Peter Hujar" and the Lee Lozano retrospective, "Drawn From Life," Nickas's book, "Live Free or Die: Collected Writings 1985-1999" was published by Les Presses du reel in 2000, and "Collection Diary," an account of his year-long project to "play" at being a collector, was published by JRP]Ringier in 2004.

Genres: Art

265 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great read! An exciting look into on curator's writing and thoughts on 30 years of art.

[joshua caleb · Rating 3 out of 5]

on the lighter side of art criticism. I'm not even sure it counts as art criticism; it's a mildly entertaining walk through a "maverick" curator's curatorial career in his own words.

[Lori · Rating 3 out of 5]

Inside the art and culture world, the spirit that inhabited Index magazine.