Unfold This Moment

by Martin Herbert

Unfold This Moment explores the work of Carol Bove, one of the most inventive and protean artists of her generation, whose practice has expanded―via numerous stylistic evolutions over two decades―from ethereal drawings of Playboy models to towering crushed-metal sculptures. Considering both her art and her life, this book offers a linear history of a figure who doesn't believe in linear time―her work evokes multiple temporalities simultaneously―and who harbors covertly radical ambitions for what art might do to the viewer's mind and body―not least how, without slipping into esotericism, it might serve as a gateway to meditative states. The text refocuses Bove's artistic output into a prism for wider questions of artistic conduct and inspiration: reacting resourcefully to unhelpful frameworks of reception; maintaining curiosity while performing the increasingly professionalized role of being a successful artist; realizing the value of instinct and the unconscious in creativity; being open to magical coincidences; and acknowledging the overlap between the intellectual territory of contemporary art and some of the oldest spiritual philosophies.

120 pages, Paperback

First published May 26, 2020