Books by David Breslin
David Wojnarowicz: History Keeps Me Awake at Night
The first comprehensive and most definitive source to date on David Wojnarowicz
This engaging and richly illustrated book comprehensively examines the life and art of David Wojnarowicz (1954–1992), who came to prominence in New York’s East Village art world of the 1980s, actively embracing all media and forging an expansive range of work both fiercely political and highly personal. First displayed in raw storefront galleries, his work achieved national attention at the same moment that the AIDS epidemic was affecting a generation of artists, himself included.
In a thoughtful overview essay, David Breslin looks at the breadth of the artist’s work as well as Wojnarowicz’s broad range of interests and influences, situating the artist in the art-historical canon and pushing beyond the biographical focus that has characterized much of the scholarship on Wojnarowicz to fully assess his paintings, photographs, installations, performances, and writing. A close examination of groups of works by David Kiehl sheds new light on the artist’s process and the context in which the works were created. Essays by Julie Ault, Gregg Bordowitz, C. Carr, Marvin Taylor, and National Book Award finalist Hanya Yanagihara investigate the relationship between artistic production and cultural activism during the AIDS crisis, as well as provide a necessary accounting and close evaluation of divergent practices that have frequently been subsumed under broad labels like “East Village,” “queer,” “postmodern,” and “neo-expressionist.”
Distributed for the Whitney Museum of American Art
Exhibition Schedule:
Whitney Museum of American Art
(07/13/18–09/30/18)
Mudam Luxembourg-Musée d’Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean
(10/26/2019–02/02/2020)
Copies
No copies available.
Art History and Emergency: Crises in the Visual Arts and Humanities (Clark Studies in the Visual Arts)
by Darby English, David Breslin
Art History and Emergency assesses art history’s role and responsibilities in what has been described as the “humanities crisis”—the perceived decline in the practical applications of the humanities in modern times. This timely collection of critical essays and creative pieces addresses several thought-provoking questions on the subject. For instance, as this so-called crisis is but the latest of many, what part has “crisis” played in the humanities’ history? How are artists, art historians, and professionals in related disciplines responding to current pressures to prove their worth? How does one defend the practical value of knowing how to think deeply about objects and images without losing the intellectual intensity that characterizes the best work in the discipline? Does art history as we know it have a future?
Distributed for the Clark Art Institute
Copies
No copies available.
Raw Color: The Circles of David Smith
Raw Color addresses the relationships between landscape, industry, and the works David Smith (1906–1965) realized between 1961 and 1963. The Circle series was his most ambitious attempt to pair painting and sculpture. Painted in raw, inorganic colors but constructed to stand in concert with the dramatic Adirondack landscape in which he lived, Smith's sculptures confront viewers with a conflict. How are we to be modern, responsive to the materials and the technologies of our time, and yet also remain conscious of our respective locales and nature? To demonstrate the importance of place in Smith's practice, historical photographs of Smith’s Circle series at his Bolton Landing, New York, home and studio are complemented by new photographs of the sculptures installed at the Clark's Lunder Center at Stone Hill. Noted artist Charles Ray contributes an essay that explores how time, memory, and landscape are embedded in Smith's sculpture.
Distributed for the Clark Art Institute
Exhibition Schedule:
The Clark Art Institute
(07/04/14–10/19/14)
Copies
No copies available.