book reviews
1
Madam and Eve: Women Portraying Women Liz Rideal and Kathleen Soriano
Jana Sterbak’s Vanitas (1987), a dress of raw flank steak on a female model, may today bring to mind Lady Gaga’s now-iconic “meat dress” for the 2010 VMAs. Sterback’s radical gesture was a double critique of both the objectification of the female body and humankind’s consumption habits; Gaga, too, was making a political statement. For women, art’s ability to question norms and express the unspoken is its especially powerful promise. But as Madam and Eve examines, there is much wit, humour, sensuality and camaraderie on this creative journey, too. Five evocative themes – Body, Life, Story, Death and Icons – introduce readers to women artists working from the seventies to the present, largely in the West. Decades of feminist art-historical theory and many artistic foremothers later, women still account for 30 per cent of all solo shows in major UK and US museums. Acknowledging this hard-
won and inadequate reality, Rideal and Soriano move on quickly: female art has never been mere response to maledominated art history, but life itself – work, bodies, money, birth, death, sexuality, technology, identity. Described through one key piece, the reader meets women from diverse artistic practices and backgrounds. Mona Hatoum’s “ultimate self-portrait” using an endoscopic camera; Sadie Lee’s oil-on-canvas works on mixedrace women’s experience; Melanie Manchot’s affectionate photographs of her mother’s aged body; Nezaket Ekici’s performance art on (and testing her own) physical endurance; Ana Mendieta’s installations rich with South American symbolism; and Hattie Stewart’s bold doodles “defacing” ads and magazines. The selection is extensive, including (but not prioritising) heavyweights like Barbara Kruger, Lubaina Himid, Tracey Emin and Marina Abramović.
Words Sarah Jilani
Laurence King Publishing www.laurenceking.com
2
Paper: Material, Medium and Magic Nicola Von Velsen and Neil Holt
This is a history of paper, perhaps the most ubiquitous of materials, but it is far from straightforward or biographical in its approach. Although the book opens with an accessible description of the technicalities of papermaking and its various forms (including a wonderful A-Z glossary), it also goes far beyond this to explore ongoing artisanal practices, emotional responses, hidden stories and more. It does not shy away from personal and subjective accounts: the German artist Nanne Meyer, for example, describes direct experiences with paper as a catalyst for her own work. She collects scrap, allowing herself to forget about specific pieces and their origin, instead simply waiting for an idea to strike and its purpose to become clear. In the section entitled Maps and Globes, Philipp Hontschik explores the craftsmanship of modern practitioners such as London-based Bellerby & Co, whose work he links
to a history of cartography stretching back almost 12,000 years. Paper, he shows, was key to the development of urban planning and, in a broader sense, the ability to present space in an abstract, codified form. This enabled a deeper understanding and knowledge of places, without – for the first time – needing to witness them first hand. The volume finishes, appropriately, with a section on paper and the book. From the social role of libraries to the art of bookbinding, there are clear statements that these beloved objects cannot be neatly replaced by a digital alternative. It is argued that a book’s physical form is absolutely key to its meaning: this is a vital message for modern times, and a call to arms for anyone whose days are increasingly full of plastic and metal, buttons and screens. This publication will appeal to anyone who enjoys thinking about the complex stories of everyday objects.
Words Anna Feintuck
Prestel www.prestel.com
3
Trevor Paglen author
In 1949, George Orwell’s iconic dystopian novel, 1984, was published, establishing a vision of the near future defined by official deception, surveillance and the manipulation of facts. Over 60 years later, the first episode of Charlie Brooker’s Black Mirror aired, tapping into the same concerns for an increasingly digital age. These dystopian narratives reflect the anxieties of the modern world: the impact of mass observation and technological dependence. Trevor Paglen (b. 1974) shares an interest in these issues, investigating surveillance methods and bringing into focus timely questions about government secrecy and control. Endeavouring to uncover the “unseeable and undocumentable” in the contemporary landscape, the practitioner’s diverse body of work highlights the clandestine activity of the state and intelligence agencies. A multidisciplinary approach defines his practice, comprising photography, installation, journalism and science. This
investigative methodology unearths the pervasive nature of government scrutiny, emphasising the extensive reach of global information and data networks. Surveying anything from underwater cables to orbiting satellites, Paglen explores multitudinous angles. For example, Landing Points spotlights the mechanisms underpinning the internet, whilst interactive works such as Autonomy Cube study the relationship between human beings and machines. As a whole, the pieces offer dialogues about the nature of public and private spheres in the 21st century. Phaidon’s new publication is the first monograph to explore the artist’s highly conceptual oeuvre, presenting personal reflections and essays alongside 200 colour images. Coinciding with a major retrospective at the Smithsonian, Washington DC, the book offers readers an insight into the sociopolitical structures that define the everyday experience, establishing its importance to a broad spectrum of audiences.
Words Eleanor Sutherland
Phaidon www.phaidon.com
Aesthetica 145