Inspired by Insects: Bugs in Contemporary Art

by E. Ashley Rooney, Joan Danzinger (Foreword), Barrett Anthony Klein (Introduction)

Insects have captivated artists for centuries, as shown in their re-creations of them in gold, canvas, fabric, marble, wood, and other media. This book displays 39 contemporary artists’ insect-centric works, showing the extent to which insects fascinate twenty-first century artists and scientists. These American and international artists have many magical and discerning ways to approach their buggy subjects, which each artist explains in their own words. Nearly one million different described species of insects are known today. Now those colorful butterflies, iridescent beetles, little ladybugs, and lacy dragonflies can be with us permanently in many graceful arrangements and a variety of media!

176 pages, Hardcover

Published August 15, 2017

About the author

E. Ashley Rooney is the author of numerous books on contemporary art.

Reviews

[Marzie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received a copy of this Advance Reader Copy from Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review.

Entering a niche art book market for insect-lovers, this volume offers a compendium of contemporary artists' works in various media from glass to metal (including jewelry) to clay to pencil to oils. A great selection of some beautiful art awaits any lover of bugs, spiders and scorpions. At only 146 pages, I felt the book might have benefitted from having a bit more discussion about how these artists came to love insects and arachnids and about their various featured work. Nevertheless, this is a gorgeous coffee table book I'd be happy to purchase.