Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art: A Sourcebook of Artists' Writings (California Studies in the History of Art ; 35)

Rating:
Summary: the only art book I can't live without
Review: and not only can I not live without it, but I can feel comfortable recommending it to anyone interested in art (especially contemporary art). it is the kind of book I dream about. I want more like it. there are certain genres left out and some of the groupings are too tight, and some too loose, but the fact that the artists are the ones giving the information means that I can research them more accurately, instead of researching other peoples research. A wonderful compilation of essays and interviews.

Rating:
Summary: the only art book I can't live without
Review: and not only can I not live without it, but I can feel comfortable recommending it to anyone interested in art (especially contemporary art). it is the kind of book I dream about. I want more like it. there are certain genres left out and some of the groupings are too tight, and some too loose, but the fact that the artists are the ones giving the information means that I can research them more accurately, instead of researching other peoples research. A wonderful compilation of essays and interviews.

Rating:
Summary: This is a gold mine
Review: I have been searching for a book like this off and on for years, but just recently came accross it. What a great collection of essays and interviews from the artists! I am a teacher/artist myself, not a researcher, and it is so wonderful to have all this information at my finger tips. I hope the editors do more work like this. If you are interested in finding out about what a contemporary artist was thinking, check this book first!

Rating:
Summary: This is a gold mine
Review: I have been searching for a book like this off and on for years, but just recently came accross it. What a great collection of essays and interviews from the artists! I am a teacher/artist myself, not a researcher, and it is so wonderful to have all this information at my finger tips. I hope the editors do more work like this. If you are interested in finding out about what a contemporary artist was thinking, check this book first!

Rating:
Summary: Excellent text; focuses on artists' (not critics') ideas
Review: I have used this text with grad. students and with advanced-level undergraduate art majors. In an era dominated by some pretty thick-headed critical writing, I value the relatively jargon-free essays by a good variety of contemporary artists. More photos, even B/W ones, would be a help however.

Rating:
Summary: Misquoting of latin-american artists raise doubts...
Review: I've purchased this book while beeing in New York in 2003, and my first impression was that I had aquired an excellent and almost encyclopedical resourse for research. However, when looking for references on familiar contemporary artists like Brazilian Lygia Clark (one of the most important and internationally renowed creators, having teached in Sorbonne, among other things) I've found her name misquoted as "Lydia Clark" while she's reffered as "Argentinian" in the index. The fact that I've found such a mistake concerning a familiar name raises doubts on the rigor of this interesting work.

Sérgio Basbaum (teacher at Universidade Cátólica, São Paulo, Brazil)