The multitude of mediums and techniques used by Sterling Ruby (born 1972) in his work--ranging from sculpture to collage, installation to painting, ceramics to video and printing--reflects the issues he tackles: the conflict between individual impulses and mechanisms of social control, the coercive function of architectonic space, art as the domain of irrationality, Minimalism and Art Brut, graffiti art, urban violence, desire and pleasure. His works combine memory of the past with attention to contemporary urban and popular phenomena. It is an art of expression and accumulation, of the overproduction of information and of the delirium of the senses, of neurosis and paranoia, and in which the gigantism of the shapes and their proliferation appear like a corrupt manifestation of desire, consumption, anxiety and the need for control that characterizes contemporary occidental culture. This is the second edition of JRPRingier's 2009 monograph on Ruby.

A global survey of 100 of today's most important clay and ceramic artists, chosen by leading art world professionals. Vitamin C celebrates the revival of clay as a material for contemporary visual artists, featuring a wide range of global talent as selected by the world's leading curators, critics, and art professionals. Clay and ceramics have in recent years been elevated from craft to high art material, with the resulting artworks being coveted by collectors and exhibited in museums around the world. Packed with illustrations, Vitamin C is a vibrant and incredibly timely survey - the first of its kind. Artists include: Caroline Achaintre, Ai Weiwei, Aaron Angell, Edmund de Waal, Theaster Gates, Marisa Merz, Ron Nagle, Gabriel Orozco, Grayson Perry, Sterling Ruby, Thomas Schütte, Richard Slee, Clare Twomey, Jesse Wine, and Betty Woodman. Nominators include: Pablo Leon de la Barra, Iwona Blazwick, Mary Ceruti, Dan Fox, Jens Hoffmann, Christine Macel, James Meyer, Jed Morse, Beatrix Ruf, Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo, Nancy Spector, Sheena Wagstaff, and Jonathan Watkins.

Large-format and illustrated with original photography: a fresh look at the current scene for art lovers and a unique introduction to the art world for the novice For centuries, America's permutations of climate and landscape and its tantalizing suggestion of unlimited possibilities have inspired some of history's greatest minds to embark on both literal and imaginary journeys of exploration, none more so than its visual artists. Contrasting intimate visits to artists' studios with explorations of the country's sweeping landscapes of light and form that have inspired artists since the Luminists and the Hudson River School, here is a privileged look at the dreams, ideas, and thoughts of more than one hundred American artists who are active today. From established figures such as Marina Abramovic, John Baldessari, Chris Burden, Francesco Clemente Chuck Close, John Currin, Rachel Feinstein, Richard Prince, Robert Irwin, Kiki Smith, Bill Viola, and Lawrence Weiner to members of the new guard, including Diana Al-Hadid, Tauba Auerbach, Mark Bradford, Theaster Gates, Rashid Johnson, and Sterling Ruby, this profusely and beautifully illustrated journey through artists' studios provides an unprecedented look into the workings of one of the world's largest artistic communities. From New York's skyline to Southern California's sunny boardwalks, Art Studio America will embolden readers the chance to embark on transformative journeys of their own. The book includes essays by Robert Storr, Mark Godfrey, and Ben Genocchio.

Sterling Ruby (American/Dutch, b. 1972, Bitburg, Germany) is known for his restless invention and prolific output across mediums. From handworked ceramics and sublime abstract paintings, to soft sculptures and work with textiles and quilts, Ruby is one of the leading voices of his generation. This catalogue presents twenty years of the artist's iconic, multidisciplinary works. Accompanying Ruby's first U.S. museum survey, this book takes a thematic approach to the artist's output, focusing on his critical invocation of imagery related to American identity. Beginning with his earliest two-dimensional works on paper, this volume demonstrates Ruby's distinctive approach to psychological, cultural, and topical concerns, and his continuous engagement with themes such as prison reform, labor conditions, and popular culture.

An enormous clothbound panorama of Kara Walker's works on paper--all reproduced for the first time This gorgeous 600-page volume provides an exciting opportunity to delve into the creative process of Kara Walker, one of the most celebrated artists working in the United States today. Primarily recognized for her monumental installations, Walker also works with ink, graphite and collage to create pieces that demonstrate her continued engagement with her own identity as an artist, an African American, a woman and a mother. More than 700 works on paper created between 1992 and 2020--which are reproduced in print for the first time from the artist's own strictly guarded private archive--are collected in this volume, thus capturing Walker's career with an unprecedented level of intimacy. Since the early 1990s, the foundation of her artistic production has been drawing and working on paper in various ways. Walker's completed large-format pieces are presented among typewritten notes on index cards and dream journal entries; sketches and studies for pieces appear alongside collages. The result is a volume that allows readers to become eyewitnesses to the genesis of Walker's art and the transformative power of the figures and narratives she has created over the course of her career. Now based in New York, Kara Walkerwas born in Stockton, California, in 1969. She received her Master of Fine Arts from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1994; soon afterwards, Walker rose to prominence for her large, provocative silhouettes installed directly onto the walls of exhibition spaces. Walker's work confronts history, race relations and sexuality in a decidedly non-conciliatory manner, urging the public to reconsider established narratives surrounding the experiences of African Americans in particular.

This comprehensive book surveys over two decades of the prolific and multidisciplinary output in sculpture, drawing, and photography of an important contemporary artist.

Since the mid-nineties, contemporary art has been booming like never before. There is more of everything--more artists, more collectors, more galleries, more art fairs, more museums, more biennials, more interest, more industry, more pop, more hype. Some art professionals feel prompted by all this to reach for the revolvers of cultural pessimism: Mass Stupidity Is Killing Great Art! Others--often the same people a short while later--defect with all the greater abandon to the alleged enemy. The entrenched battle between defenders of art's autonomy and champions of its merging with entertainment culture continues. There is more of everything, with one exception: criteria. Criteria with which the art of the moment can be understood, judged, praised and, if need be, damned--without getting bogged down in this eternal trench warfare. In All of a Sudden: Things that Matter in Contemporary Art, Jörg Heiser provides a sharp summary of contemporary art since Marcel Duchamp. Using many artworks as example, the author shows that art is more than just a randomly chosen cultural field of activity in which to acquire a little specialist knowledge to show off with. "When it's good," he claims, "art hits where it hurts, striking at the heart of an ossified status quo by which it itself was brought forth. Perhaps this is something art since Modernism has in common with slapstick. Instead of just aiming to shock and outrage, it shows authority losing its grip. Instead of inflating itself, it deflates the pompous in the name of art." The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung finds the book "astonishingly enlightening." The Frankfurter Rundschau praises Heiser for finally opening the eyes of his readers--something many of his colleagues have been unable to do. Jörg Heiser (*1968) lives in Berlin. He is co-editor of frieze magazine, writes for the national daily Süddeutsche Zeitung, and is a frequent contributor to art catalogues and publications. He curated the exhibitions "Romantic Conceptualism" (2007, Kunsthalle Nürnberg, BAWAG Foundation Vienna) and "Funky Lessons" (2004/2005, BüroFriedrich Berlin, BAWAG Foundation Vienna).

Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview. With a background in novels and journalism, and having published over twenty books translated across ten languages, he infuses his interviews with innovation, allowing them to flow freely and organically. Alain Elkann Interviews will provide an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years.

This authoritative catalogue of the Corcoran Gallery of Art's renowned collection of pre-1945 American paintings will greatly enhance scholarly and public understanding of one of the finest and most important collections of historic American art in the world. Composed of more than 600 objects dating from 1740 to 1945.

A legendary painting by Rembrandt forms the centerpiece of this exploration of self-portraits by leading artists of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Published to commemorate an exhibition presented by Gagosian in partnership with English Heritage, this stunning volume centers on Rembrandt's masterpiece Self-Portrait with Two Circles (c. 1665), from the collection of Kenwood House in London. The painting is considered to be Rembrandt's greatest late self-portrait and is accompanied here by examples of the genre from leading artists of the past one hundred years. These include works by Francis Bacon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Lucian Freud, and Pablo Picasso, as well as contemporary artists such as Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst, Howard Hodgkin, Giuseppe Penone, Richard Prince, Cindy Sherman, and Rudolf Stingel, among others. Also featured is a new work by Jenny Saville, created in response to Rembrandt's masterpiece. Full-color plates of the works, generous details, and installation views of the exhibition accompany an expansive essay by art historian David Freedberg that provides a close look at the self-portraits created by Rembrandt throughout his life and considers the role of the Dutch master as the precursor of all modern painting.