Elsewhere: The Tainted Garden and Other Essays on Art, Life, and the Anthropocene

by Kim Levin

Overview

Written between 1991 and 2017, this perceptive commentary on the art and issues of the late 20^th and early 21^st centuries examines the transitional period from the end of postmodernism to the dilemmas of the present. In these 35 essays, many of which appeared only in translation elsewhere, Levin discusses such relevant "ancestors" as Robert Rauschenberg, Sol LeWitt, Jean Tinguely, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Ana Mendieta, and Mike Kelley as well as newer artists. Her incisive prose is lucid, courageous, and suffused with an unconditional love for art that goes to extremes. Linking these essays are the concepts of selective amnesia and creative misunderstanding, plus changes in the nature of time, space, the future, and the meaning of "elsewhere." From the first essay, "Art That Makes Itself," to the last, "Everywhere and Nowhere: From the Myth of Progress to the Sixth Extinction," the undercurrent is an awareness that we exist in the era of the Anthropocene. And, as the environment declines, elsewhere is becoming everywhere.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781647182458
Publisher:	Booklocker.com, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/10/2020
Pages:	392
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.81(d)

About the Author

Kim Levin, renowned art critic and curator, author of Beyond Modernism and President Honoraire of AICA, was a regular contributor to The Village Voice for two decades and also to ARTnews. Her writings have appeared in many publications internationally. She has also given lectures at numerous universities and museums in the U.S. and elsewhere.

Table of Contents

IMAGE CAPTIONS

AKNOWLEDGEMENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 - ART THAT MAKES ITSELF: An Essay on Sol LeWitt and Jean Tinguely (1991)

2 - BASQUIAT & WARHOL: SAMO AND ANDY (1991)

3 - TRANSLATION (1992)

4 - THE END OF HISTORY (1992)

5 - CRISIS OF THE BODY: ART IN THE AGE OF AIDS (1993)

6 - FREE ZONE: RAUSCHENBERG'S SATELLITE (1994)

7 - JON KESSLER: EMPIRE OF IMAGES, CABINET OF SIGNS (1995)

8 - GESTURE PERFORMANCE BEHAVIOR ATTITUDE: Asian Influence on Contemporary Art in the United States (1995)

9 - THE CONTEXT OF MEMORY: SELECTIVE AMNESIA IN CONTEMPORARY ART (1996)

10 - THE SCREAM (1996)

11 - GOING FOR BROKE (1996)

12 - DUI SEID: BLOOD RELATIONS (1997)

13 - Luca Buvoli: Not a Superhero, I Presume? (1997)

14 - MAX 98: Notes on the Making of an Exhibition (1998)

15 - FUTURE OBSOLETE? (1999)

16 - PIERRE ET GILLES: THE ECSTATIC IMAGE A conversation between Berndt Arell and Kim Levin (1999)

17 - JOHN SALVEST: TIME ON HIS HANDS (1999)

18 - THE TAINTED GARDEN: A Retrospective View of Art in Nature and Nature as Art (2000)

19 - NOTHING LEFT TO LOSE (2000)

20 - WATERWORKS (2001)

21 - TRANSNATIONAL ART IN THE INFINITE CITY (2002)

22 - DIRTY LAUNDRY: STEVEN PIPPIN'S LAUNDROMAT- LOCOMOTION (2002)

23 - LEON TARASEWICZ: ABSOLUTE LANDSCAPE (2003)

24 - ART, LIFE, AND IRRITABILITY (2004)

25 - MAMMA ANDERSSON: UNDER THE INFLUENCE (2007)

26 - UNCONDITIONAL LOVE (2007)

27 - TALKING TRASH: BYPRODUCTS FROM THE DISPOSABLE CENTURY (2012)

28 - KIM JONES: THE AVERNO DRAWINGS (2012)

29 - BRANDON BALLENGÉE: ON THE DEVOLUTION OF SPECIES (2013)

30 - KASIMIR MALEVICH: THE LAST FUTURIST EXHIBITION, BELGRADE (2014)

31 - NUCLEAR FICTIONS: Salon de Fleurus (2015)

32 - THE LUCRATIVE MASQUERADE OF MERCHANDISE AS ART (2015)

33 - FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE: Mike Kelley's Kandors (2015)

34 - POLITICS OF EXILE: Ana Mendieta's Experimental Films (2016)

35 - EVERYWHERE AND NOWHERE: FROM THE MYTH OF PROGRESS TO THE SIXTH EXTINCTION (Notes on Art, Life, and Migration in the Age of the Anthropocene) (2017)

Editorial Reviews

Kim Levin's Elsewhere is a must-read. Filled with facts and insights, it could serve as a primer on how to understand recent art as it traverses the most extreme ends of art practice and theory. Elsewhere is brilliant and timely.

- Barbara A. MacAdam

"...this is a must-have book for anyone interested in the evolution of late 20th century art and the state of art today--students, curators, critics, and historians as well as generalists. Levin's love of art and her understanding of the society in which they work come through clearly. Levin's Love of art and her understanding of the artists and the society in which they work come through clearly."

- Elaine A. King, review in Sculpture Magazine, fall 2020 issue

From the Publisher