“Publishing on paper is old-fashioned”, observes Lucy Ives in these pages, a steady look at the contemporary artists who serve as publishers. These artists, she continues, “imagine a reader who is sensually aware, rather than paranoid or anxious.” It’s a wonderful argument for the power of the printed page – I’m thinking of Honoré Daumier’s images of readers, with their sense of total absorption – including the pages of the magazine you are holding in your hands right now.
For this edition of our annual Summer Readings, we offer you a feast of approaches to writing, from artists’ books to artists’ biographies, from museum books to museum reading. Jackson Arn takes stock of the biographers of artists, from Renaissance mythologist Giorgio Vasari to Picasso chronicler John Richardson. The best of them struggle with the tantalizing and ever-mysterious relationship between works of art and life stories. The books of photographer Dayanita Singh take many forms. Her latest effort, she tells Tausif Noor in a lively “In the Studio” interview, includes DIY instructions for turning her books into exhibits, and even transforming into a place: “[B]uy a long jacket and cut pockets of a certain size, so you can wear nine museums. You can walk into a room with them and invite everyone to a Dayanita Singh opening right away. Take out one of the books and hold it: like that, you have become the museum.
Much has been said over the past year about the prospect of a new kind of Roaring Twenties. In In anticipation of our exit from the pandemic, we were meant to rush into a new golden age, comparable to that of the previous century, fueled by a pent-up demand for sociability. Instead, we find ourselves in a world darkened by war, fear and confinements, a stew of not dissimilar circumstances of those who led to Dada. And, as on a signal, we have our own dadaist in Nora Turato, whose performances, as writer Jameson Fitzpatrick writes in an artist profile, “captur[e]the feeling of navigating the chaotic and confusing absurdities of the information age. There is nothing passive in reading.
—Sarah Douglas, Editor-in-Chief
Workshop of Dayanita Singh in Delhi, 2022.
Photo Mohit Kapil
DEPARTMENTS
FIRST LOOK
The Kela Brown by Hiji Nam
LaKela Brown’s “archaeological” relief plaques refer to jewelry and small objects related to black heritage.
THE EXCHANGE
Alice Channer’s verse work with Amy Stewart
An artist and a horticultural writer discuss the ecological contributions of earthworms.
HARD TRUTHS
by Chen & Lampert
Artist-curators Howie Chen and Andrew Lampert offer ironic take on the dilemmas of the art world.
CRITICAL EYE
House of Xtravaganza by Maria H. Loh
Since the Renaissance, masculinity has often been expressed through surprisingly flowery outfits.
BOOKS
Value and its sources by Caitlin Meehye Beach
A review by Henry Sayre value in art: Manet and the slave trade and Anna Arabindan-Kesson Black bodies, white gold: art, cotton and trade in the Atlantic world.
HANDS ON
Q&A with Daniel Tobin, co-founder and creative director of UAP (Urban Art Projects).
Nora Turato reading pool 42020, in Amsterdam.
Photo Sabo Day
FEATURES
FROM GOD AT 10,000 HOURS
by Jackson Arn
Whether Vasari Lives or the latest tome on Warhol, artist biographies investigate the stories behind the works we revere.
KIDS TRICKS
by Hannah Stamler
Children once inspired modernist artists, and they’re now a prime demographic for ambitious art books.
EPIC PITCH
by Jameson Fitzpatrick
Nora Turato’s performance work and spoken word publishing projects merge the bardic tradition with the contemporary sales model. A detachable artist’s print accompanies the article.
IN THE WORKSHOP: DAYANITA SINGH
with Tausif Noor
The veteran Delhi-based artist explains why her wildly inventive photobooks are essential to the future of the medium.
FIT TO PRINT
by Lucy Ives
Independent presses and self-publishing have freed artists to experiment freely with images and text.
COMMENTS
Installing Khalil Rabah Untitled, all is well2017, based on his project “The Lowest Point on Earth Memorial Park”, mixed media, variable dimensions.
Photo Danko Stjepanovic
WHITNEY BIENNALE
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Simon Wu
“NURSERY”
Museo Universitario Arte Contemporary, Mexico City
Gaby Cepeda
WAID RAAD
Paula Cooper, New York
Kaleem Hawa
DOROTHEA TANNING
Kasmin, New York
Jackson Arn
ANDRE CADERE
Ortuzar Projects, New York
David Ebony
SPARE PART AUSTIN OSMAN
Iceberg Projects, Chicago
Jeremy Lybarger
RYAN-PATRICK KRUEGER
MONACO, Saint Louis
Jessica Baron
VICTORIA GITMAN
Francis Ghebaly, Los Angeles
Annabel Osberg
SABRIN GSCHWANDTNER
Shoshana Wayne, Los Angeles
Lea Ollman
KHALIL RABAH
Sharjah Art Foundation, Sharjah
Emily Watlington
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