Allen Ruppersberg:Books, Inc

Allen Ruppersberg began his career in Los Angeles in the 1960s, challenging the social and economic premises of the fine arts with his radical conceptual work. ''Performance'' pieces like the staged ''restaurant'' Al's Cafa and The Travel Piece confronted foundational questions about art, nature, and reality in previously unheard of ways. Later, he began to critique notions of authorship, especially in literature--most famously in his ''copied versions'' of Walden and The Picture of Dorian Gray. Allen Ruppersberg: Books, Inc. takes as its emphasis Ruppersberg's engagements with literature and textuality. In addition to beautiful reproductions of Ruppersberg's work, it includes an interview with the artist, as well as an intuitive and intelligent essay on Ruppersberg by fellow artist Allan McCollum.