The Artist's Body

An Intriguing and Diverse Survey of Some of the Most ImportantArtists of the Century; New Affordable Format.As part of its critically-acclaimed "Themes and Movements" series, PhaidonPress is pleased to announce the new edition of THE ARTIST'S BODY, acompelling look at the artists' use of self and body as object and subjectin their work, a movement that represents the state of contemporary art andmakes a wider comment on the human condition.Bound or beaten naked orpainted, still or spasmodic: the artist lives his or her art publicly inperformance or privately in video and photography.Amelia Jones' surveyexamines the most significant works in the context of social history andTracey Warr's selection of documents combines writings by artists, criticsand philosophers.Beginning with such key artists as Marcel Duchamp and Jackson Pollock, thisbook examines a selection of the most significant players who have usedtheir bodies to create their art - among them, in the 1960s CaroleeSchneemann, Rudolf Schwarzkogler, Yoko Ono; in the 1970s, Chris Burden, AnaMendieta, Vito Acconci, Marina Abramovic; up to the turn of the millennium,Matthew Barney, Mac Quinn, Tracey Emin and Mona Hatoum.In the survey, Amelia Jones, among the world experts in the field,discusses performance and body art against the background of socialhistory.She examines the breakdown of barriers between art and life,visual and sensual experience - how artists have expanded and renewed theage-old tradition of self-portraiture, moving art out of the gallery intounexpected spaces and media. Each image is accompanied by an extendedcaption. The works are organized thematically.* Painting Bodies, concerns work that shows the trace, stain or imprintof the artist's body in response to the paint-on-canvas tradition. * Gesturing Bodies, examines artists who transform the body - its acts,its gesture - into art, gesture, behavior and situations are used in placeof art objects.* Ritualistic and Transgressive Bodies, looks at work which uses thebody to enact challenges to the social expectations of the body, often inrituals that perform a cathartic function.Mutilation and sacrifice areused to rupture personal and social homogeneity. * Body Boundaries, examines boundaries between the individual body andthe social environment and between the inside and outside of the bodyitself. * Performing Identity, looks at issues of representation and identity. * Absent Bodies, explores absence and the mortality of the body throughphotography, casting, imprints or remnants of the body.* In Extended and Prosthetic Bodies, the body is extended throughprosthetics or technology, to explore cyberspace and alternative states ofconsciousness.Parallel to the illustrated works of art, this section combines texts bycritics who shaped the movement, from Lucy R. Lippard to Thomas McEvilley. Alongside these writings by philosophers and thinkers such as GeorgeBataille and Gilles Deleuze who have contributed on a theoretical level tothe discussion around the body - a prevalent theme in twentieth-centurycultural theory.THE ARTIST'S BODY is a powerful and poignant look at an increasinglysignificant movement and art form.This book is an essential referencethat examines some of the most cutting edge and innovative artists of ourtime.This new affordable edition is perfect for students of theater andart as well as anyone with an interest in contemporary art.