Thought-provoking and richly visual, Nature Morte brings together, for the first time, the poignant, provocative re-imaginings of the traditional still life by over 180 international contemporary artists. This visually stunning and timely book reveals how leading artists of the 21st century are reinvigorating the still life, a genre previously synonymous with the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Old Masters. Michael Petry's careful selection celebrates works by emerging and established artists alike, from all over the globe, including John Currin, Elmgreen & Dragset, Robert Gober, Renata Hegyi, Damien Hirst, David Hockney, Gary Hume, Sarah Lucas, Beatriz Milhazes, Gabriel Orozco, Elizabeth Peyton, Marc Quinn, Gerhard Richter, Sam Taylor-Wood and Ai Wei Wei. Short and compelling introductions begin each chapter and are followed by dramatic, visually led spreads that pair each work with a perceptive reading of its significance to the still-life tradition. Petry's engaging, provocative text reveals how contemporary practitioners are revisiting the major motifs of the still life and translating them for the modern world. Petry explores the timeless themes of life, death and the irrevocable passing of time in these new works for our modern world; artworks that invite us to pause and reconsider what it means to be human.

"This alphabetically arranged dictionary of artists known to have produced works depicting sexual imagery profiles the artists from ancient times to the present. Each entry offers biographical information, including the artist's name and any variants, birth and death dates, geographic focus, a description of the artist's media, training and the nature of their artistic output"--Provided by publisher.

This is the first book to take seriously (though not too seriously) the surprisingly neglected role of humour in art. "Art and Laughter" looks back to comic masters such as Hogarth and Daumier and to Dada, Surrealism and Pop Art, asking what makes us laugh and why. It explores the use of comedy in art from satire and irony to pun, parody and black and bawdy humour. Encouraging laughter in the hallowed space of the gallery, Sheri Klein praises the contemporary artist as 'clown' - often overlooked in favour of the role of artist as 'serious' commentator - and takes us on a tour of the comic work of Red Grooms, Cary Leibowitz, 'The Hairy Who', Richard Prince, Bruce Nauman, Jeff Koons, William Wegman, Vik Muniz and many more. She seeks out those rare smiles in art - from the Mona Lisa onwards - and highlights too the pleasures of the cute, the camp and the downright kitsch.

In the 1960s, the fascination with erotic art generated a wave of exhibitions and critical discussion on sexual freedom, visual pleasure, and the nude in contemporary art. Radical Eroticism examines the importance of women’s contributions in fundamentally reconfiguring representations of sexuality across several areas of advanced art—performance, pop, postminimalism, and beyond. This study shows that erotic art made by women was integral to the profound changes that took place in American art during the sixties, from the crumbling of modernist aesthetics and the expanding field of art practice to the emergence of the feminist art movement. Artists Carolee Schneemann, Martha Edelheit, Marjorie Strider, Hannah Wilke, and Anita Steckel created works that exemplify these innovative approaches to the erotic, exploring female sexual subjectivities and destabilizing assumptions about gender. Rachel Middleman reveals these artists’ radical interventions in both aesthetic conventions and social norms.

Largely paintings with some photos and sculpture. Some imaginative work, quite a lot of paint-by-the-numbers stuff. A little x-rated, much H-rated (Holstein). Cloth edition $39.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR