Review

Book Review: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry

Book Review: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry

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Fausto Gilberti, an Italian picture book maker, has been publishing stories about famous artists for over ten years. With international success and sold in museum bookshops across the world, these books introduce children to exciting artists from Yayoi Kusama to Banksy, turning these life stories into accessible bedtime reads.

Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti
Buy now: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry | Art | Store | Phaidon

The most recent instalment of Gilberti’s art picture books is Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry (2022)A Canadian artist, she is most famous for her colossal arachnids, a sculptural series that she started in her late 80s. Haunting and gigantic, Maman (1999) first appeared at the opening of Tate Modern.

The spider became an immediate sensation, and six versions of it are now on permanent display in England, Canada, Spain, Japan, USA, and Qatar respectively. It’s earned a place in modern art history, and the story of its maker is worth revisiting.

Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti
Buy now: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry | Art | Store | Phaidon

Gilberti cleverly selects artists who are unconventional. Their out-of-the box thinking and methods translate well to the picture book format. His characters aren’t just painting or drawing, they’re engaging in wacky and surprising creative acts. Children will delight in seeing Bourgeois create enormous sculptures, and her own childhood is well documented. After all, Maman is a tribute to her mother, a skilled weaver.

Scenes of a young Louise fixing tapestries with Josephine give heartwarming context to later creations. The story then thunders through her long art-career, stopping along the way to show some of her more eye-catching works. It naturally ends with the making of Maman, and even a picture-book retelling conveys how impressive the achievement was. Few artists ended their careers with as much showmanship as Bourgeois.

Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti
Buy now: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry | Art | Store | Phaidon

This is a fun picture book that encourages kids to use their imagination. Giberti’s spidery doodle-style is well suited for Bourgeois and her strange-but-sweet works. This book isn’t suitable for children who struggle with arachnophobia. Those readers would be better served choosing a different artist from this series.

Overall though, this is a wonderful addition to any young art-fan’s library, and works especially well for a mother/daughter reading session. Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry reminds child and parent alike just how thrilling art can be.

Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry by Fausto Gilberti
Buy now: Louise Bourgeois Made Giant Spiders and Wasn’t Sorry | Art | Store | Phaidon

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Book Review: Luna Luna – The Art Amusement Park




Book Review: Luna Luna – The Art Amusement Park

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Named after Luna Park in Coney Island, Luna Luna was an international collaboration involving the biggest titans in contemporary art, from Salvador Dalí to Roy Lichtenstein. It was a contemporary showcase of art and music as well as a functioning amusement park. Its unique place in art history has finally been rediscovered. Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park is a handsome coffee-table book, serving as both an introduction and a retrospective.

Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park by André Heller.
Buy now: Luna Luna | Art | Store | Phaidon

In 1987, an amusement park appeared in Hamburg, Germany. Luna Luna had all the hallmarks of a traditional fairground, featuring carousels, games, and walk-in attractions. However, it held a second purpose as an especially ambitious art exhibition.

André Heller, an eccentric Austrian curator, secured a massive grant from Neue Revue, a German magazine also involved in the making of this book. He set about successfully enticing the biggest names in modern art to collaborate on this amusement park. Painters, musicians, sculptors, and cartoonists brought Luna Luna to life. Highlights include a carousel designed and painted by Keith Haring, a ferris wheel adorned with colossal imagery from Jean-Michel Basquiat, and a haunting Mechanical Theatre by Jim Whiting. These art objects were documented for posterity by Sabina Sarnitz. She tirelessly photographed the works from inception to installation, and the results of her mission provide the book’s visual content. True to Phaidon’s high standards, the image quality is high and well served by pull-outs and doublespreads throughout. Sarnitz photographed many of the attractions by night, all the better to show their bright colours. Her night-scenes are quiet and intimate, giving us private access to these forgotten relics of art history.

As well as internationally renowned artists, many upstarts from the bohemian art scenes of Europe were recruited. The overarching style of the contributions is psychedelic. As with any exhibition, there are weaker artworks in the mix. One such project is a Palace of the Winds, where flatulence was incorporated into classical music through live performances. You get the sense that this could have been left back in the eighties. That being said, everything in Luna Luna has been so lovingly archived for context in this book. Every piece serves to enrich the grander experience.

Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park by André Heller.
Buy now: Luna Luna | Art | Store | Phaidon

Taken as a whole, Luna Luna stands as a carnivalesque microcosm of the era’s preoccupations and anxieties. It can sometimes be unclear what was on offer for the actual children who visited it. Yet there’s no doubt that the sheer sense of fun emanating from the attractions must have been fascinating for the families who saw it live.




The art-park was originally destined for an international tour, but that never materialized. Sadly, the pieces were disassembled and stored in forty-four shipping containers. There they languished unseen for thirty-five years. A massive restoration of these art objects is underway, funded in part by the rapper Drake. Luna Luna has been rescued from obscurity, and this art-book has been published in tandem with this relaunch. As well as extensive photography of the works, Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park includes written material from the original site and exhibition, an essay by Hilde Spiel, and a poignant interview with André Heller. As a septuagenarian, he finally gets to see Luna Luna rebuilt, to delight children and adults across the world.

The selection leans more heavily towards the twentieth century onwards, and as is the case with modern art, some of them are better than others. It’s ultimately subjective at the end of the day, and the variety on offer means that the widest range of tastes is still catered to.

Luna Luna: The Art Amusement Park by André Heller.
Buy now: Luna Luna | Art | Store | Phaidon

“Luna Luna in the sky. Will you make me laugh or cry?” – Keith Haring, NYC (1987)




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Book Review: Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965 -1966




Book Review: Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965-1966

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When we think of Andy Warhol, we often manifest a version of him from his later career. The icy eccentric, bespectacled with messy blonde hair, partying with Jean-Michel Basquiat and Madonna in New York nightclubs. What’s fascinating about the deep-dive offered in Steve Shapiro’s Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965-1966 is the new perspective it reveals.

Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965 – 1966. Taschen. Buy now: https://bit.ly/3WXkv0O
“We are open to the impossible; we readily enter its territory.” – Olafur Eliasson

In Andy Warhol and Friends: 1964 – 1966. We get access to the artist during a lesser-known period of his life, all from the lens of a single photographer, Steve Schapiro, who documented Warhol and his glamorous collaborators. His collection of portraits shows the artist in black-and-white, at the height of his rise to stardom.

In the snappy introduction, Pop Life, Blake Gopnik argues that Warhol’s radical performance art began in the mid-sixties. Having cultivated his position in the New York art scene from the 1950s onwards, the turning-point came with his first solo show in Philadelphia, 1965. This was when Warhol began turning himself into a sort of artwork, a self-made character that would become a permanent fixture in art history. Warhol embodies a person being shaped and finessed like an artwork.

Image Preview: Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965 – 1966. Buy now: https://bit.ly/3WXkv0O

Schapiro’s photography arguably captures the beginning of this tradition. From quiet moments to extravagant gallery openings, he documents Warhol’s life and movements from 1965 into the following year. We get new insights into The Silver Factory, Warhol’s famous art studio. We see exhibitions, imagining the thrills and bewilderment the audiences feel upon seeing the painted Campbell soup cans and Kelloggs boxes. Most interestingly perhaps, we see his time at the Castle, an elaborate mansion in the Hollywood Hills. He holidayed there with Nico and the Velvet Underground [Warhol was their manager], who appear in many portraits. Creating art in luxurious accommodation, they bask in an upmarket version of Californian counterculture. Schapiro’s documentation of these scenes is complimented by stylish concert photography. The whole book has the feel of a visual biography.

Contextualizing the experience is an interview with Schapiro himself. The photographer’s first-hand account contextualizes the time-period, and he emphasizes that this was a turning point in Warhol’s career. “Artistically, Andy was at a crossroads during the time of these pictures.” This is an important body of work in the history of 20th century art, giving us an unparalleled overview of Warhol as he became a Pop Art giant.

Image Preview: Andy Warhol and Friends: 1965 – 1966. Buy now: https://bit.ly/3WXkv0O

Looking through these photos creates a humanizing effect. Warhol becomes less alien, less unassailable. He’s smiling, goofing around, showing normal human emotions that he’d later take great care to conceal. Schapiro recounts how the inflatable silver shapes were set up in the Ferus Gallery for his 1966 show, and that everyone was huffing helium to elicit funny voices. The photographs capture a sense of fun in the making of these pieces and experiences. Even to see Warhol preparing one of his balloons – creating a work rather than standing in front of a finished product – is a rare and welcome viewpoint. There is often a warmth to the nostalgic snapshots.

Although the faces may be famous, the friendships and fun is captured with charming authenticity. Andy Warhol and Friends: 1964-1965 is simply a must-read for aficionados of Andy Warhol and the Pop Art movement. It provides a retro celebration of music, 1960s Americana, and the art-world en masse. At the heart of it all is Warhol. As the artist himself declares: “The best thing about a picture is that it never changes, even when the people in it do.”







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Book Review: Great Women Painters




Book Review: Great Women Painters

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Great Women Painters is an art-book that honours female practitioners of this timeless art-form. The editors take no half-measures in this ambition, including paintings from over three hundred artists across sixty countries in a timeframe of five hundred years. The result is an expansive tome that shines a welcome spotlight on some extraordinary work. It’s never been a better time to celebrate and recognize the contributions of women painters. This book rises to the task admirably.

Great Women Painters: Phaidon Editors, with an introduction by Alison M. Gingeras. Buy now: https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/great-women-painters-9781838663285/
“We are open to the impossible; we readily enter its territory.” – Olafur Eliasson

The main section of Great Women Painters is arranged so that each page is dedicated to a different artist and a single painting from their repertoire. Instead the selected artists have been arranged alphabetically which affords an enjoyable randomness to the experience – from different epochs, art movements, worldviews and techniques. Reading it from cover to cover, the reader will move from vegetarian vampires in 1960s Mexico on one page to the heart of Renaissance Italy on another. 

The selection leans more heavily towards the twentieth century onwards, and as is the case with modern art, some of them are better than others. It’s ultimately subjective at the end of the day, and the variety on offer means that the widest range of tastes is still catered to.

Image Preview: Great Women Painters: Phaidon Editors, with an introduction by Alison M. Gingeras. Buy now: https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/great-women-painters-9781838663285/

The text also offers substantial art criticism. It’s aligned with “the discipline of feminist art history,” as Alison M. Gingeras notes in her erudite introduction. This work continues the debate ignited in Linda Nochlin’s Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists? (1971), and serves as a sister volume to Phaidon’s own Great WomenArtists (2019). There are some amazing characters here, like a Victorian miniaturist who painted without limbs (Sarah Biffin) and a Japanese master obsessed with postmodern teddy bears (Eguchi Ayane).  This book doesn’t just chronicle painters. It offers snapshots into the lives of women in diverse settings over half a millennium.




The editors haven’t shied away from the difficulties faced by women painters across history. As the artist Chen Ke eloquently puts it: “We are all dancing with shackles to find a shelter for ourselves within limited freedom.” Ultimately, though, the core of Great Women Artists is celebratory and uplifting. It shows how women have always been painting alongside the men, no matter how prohibitive the profession appeared to be. It’s full of fascinating facts and gorgeous art. Readers will be happy to meet an amazing line-up of painters. We can only hope Phaidon continues to produce such high-quality books that champion the cause of female artists.




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Book Review: Olafur Eliasson: Experience




Book Review: Olafur Eliasson: Experience

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Olafur Eliasson: Experience is a special artbook, a retrospective of Eliasson’s art career. The environmental message is faithfully threaded through, and the work is celebrated as it should be. Eliasson is a mad scientist in the art world, and this book shows how fun, powerful and heart-wrenching his inventions can be.

Olafur Eliasson: Experience; Phaidon, 2022. Buy now: https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/experience-9781838665685/
“We are open to the impossible; we readily enter its territory.” – Olafur Eliasson

Olafur Eliasson is a titan of modern art. Devoted to the natural world and geometric experiments, he’s exhibited everywhere from the Irish Museum of Modern Art to the Palace of Versailles. As well as prestigious art institutions, he is famous for radical installations out in the world for citizens to see. He illuminated the streets of Utrecht with an artificial sun, brought waterfalls to Manhattan, and dyed green the rivers in cities like Tokyo and Stockholm. His art brings people into a gentle world of ambient naturalism.

In Olafur Eliasson: Experience, a retrospective updated and luxuriously clothbound in canary yellow, his body of work from the 1990s to present day is assiduously explored and documented. For newcomers, it offers a great introduction to the bizarre and beautiful world of Eliasson’s art. Even for diehard enthusiasts, the sheer abundance of installations and artworks catalogued means that you’re bound to find new works and perspectives.

Image Preview:Olafur Eliasson: Experience; Phaidon, 2022. Buy now: https://www.phaidon.com/store/art/experience-9781838665685/

Eliasson utilizes nature in extraordinary ways. In his more traditional work, photography of Icelandic landscapes and receding glaciers draws attention to the impermanence and changing forms of our planet. In Experience, these are reprinted in neat formations and high definition. He gets far more experimental when inviting nature into human spaces. Materials such as ice, fog, moss and even hardened lava are transformed into art-objects, exhibiting the frailty of our Earth. In the unsettling series Ice Watch, his team transported blocks of ice from Greenland and displayed them in prominent cities. Watching these monuments melt in real time gives visceral urgency to the issues of climate change. It’s clear to see in the faces of viewers. Like other works in this book, you can feel the cold, smells and textures emanating from these photographs.

This is key to understanding Eliasson’s work, the experiencial interactivity of it. The book does this by showing artworks not in isolation, but in the process of being viewed and observed. People relax on the floor of Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall, in the orange glow of a massive indoor sun. They rest under a towering sculpture on a cold Swedish coast. They regard his creations in a quiet museum in Kanazawa, Japan. Seeing these audiences together in this book really delivers a sense of global connection, as if we’re all part of the same audience. From botanical gardens to the Palace of Versailles, even in this book that Eliasson was involved in, these experimental artworks have truly had an impact across many different times and countries. The world is filled with his shapes, geometry and neat formulations, his mark made on every continent.




As well as the wonderful photographs, Experience also features a wealth of additional material. A sharp introduction by Michelle Kuo presents the various themes Eliasson incorporates, from nature to mathematics. She argues that he carries on the spirit of sculptural Expressionism: “Against the anomie and depersonalization of modern life – the coldness of the city, the stultifying work of the factory and bureaucracy alike – Expressionist art and architecture attempted to explore the flat, inanimate picture into an engagement of the senses.” It’s easy to see how he uses this 20th century approach, tackling conventions in uplifting fashion, while always using ecofriendly overtones. Alongside the introduction, there is a lengthy interview with the man himself, plus a dedicated section at the back for the Olafur Eliasson Studio, which handles the architectural projects. You get the sense that he has a very dedicated team helping him fulfil this vision.




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Book Review: Keith Haring – The Story of His Life by Paolo Parisi




Book Review: Keith Haring – The Story of His Life by Paolo Parisi

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Celebrated artist, activist and humanitarian, Keith Haring is the perfect subject for this graphic novel. Focused on three colors, this comic-book tells the fascinating life story of a man who lived his truth on all kinds of canvases.

Keith Haring: The Story of his Life by Paulo Parisi. Prestel, 2022 [9783791388434]
“If commercialization is putting my art on a shirt so that a kid who can’t afford a $30,000 painting can buy one, then I’m all for it.”
 

This attractive graphic biography chronicles the life of Keith Haring. Paulo Parisi covers everything, from his childhood in Kutztown, Philadelphia, all the way up to his tragic passing in the AIDS pandemic. The ambition of this timeframe has pros and cons. For a complete newcomer to Haring’s work, this is an informative overview of his life’s story. There are plenty of fun moments enhanced by the visual medium, from his gallery shows to Larry Levan’s thumping DJ sets in Paradise Garage. Conversely, the decision to include everything means that certain parts have a cursory feel. Topics like Haring’s ascendancy through New York graffiti, the Pop Shop he opened in New York and Tokyo, or his political activism could each fill a standalone book. Skimming through them all comes at the expense of critical excavations. That being said, Prestel have included a thorough bibliography at the back, for readers wishing to learn more. 

 
Image: preview of “The Story of His Life” by Paolo Parisi
The book features a stripped-down colour palette of yellows, blues and pinks. This neat and simplified art-style works well here, feeling faithful to the experimental Pop Art movement it represents. Keith Haring’s philosophy was making art accessible to the masses. He used graffiti in the subways to reach thousands of commuters every day, and he spearheaded merchandise and fashion to take art out of galleries and into the homes of everyday people. He always questioned the demarcation between “high art” and “low art.” Haring’s approach is still felt today, with artists like Banksy making a body of work with spraypaints. The Pop Shop preceded an ongoing ethical debate of turning art into commercial products. Parisi has slyly incorporated these concepts into his biography, telling a visual story that is fun and welcoming to all. Comics have often been categorized as “low art.” This makes them a terrific medium to celebrate the low-art/high-art playfulness of Keith Haring’s work.
 

“Art is nothing if you don’t reach every segment of the people.”

 
This is a well-researched book, produced with a Pop-Art aesthetic that suits the subject matter. It honours Haring’s style and philosophy, often quoting him directly. The end result is a light and enjoyable book suitable for any art lover’s shelf.







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