\ Avant"Garde and After

Rethi nki ng Art Now

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Avant-Garde and After
Retlzillkillg Art Now
Avant-Garde and After
Rethinking Art NOIV
Brandon Taylor
l' E RS P Ee T I V ES
H :\ R R Y 1'\ . AllR /\l\lS , N e . , PU D l lS H ERS
Acklloll' Jedglltell ts
I muse thank numerous indivi duals and organisar ions for thcir rimel)' asssrance. ind uding Mari n
Busch of (he ;\1u!>Cum Boymaus-Van Bcuningen, Rort erdam: Ri chard Francia of t he Museum of
Conrcmp orary Art , Cbicago; Victo ria Hcur y of rhe Canadian Museum uf Civilizauon, Onawa:
Wolfram Kicpc of che Berlinische Galeric. Hcrlin; Portland McCormick of the MUSI.'um uf
Comcmporary An , Los Angeles; Matt hew Slotover of Friezc rv1aga nc, Le uden; rhe Ronald
Feldman Gallery, Nl.'W York; the Andrea R OWll Galleey, New York; the Sidney Janis Gallee)'.
New York: t he Galcric Gcrald Pilt zer, Parir; rhe Gallee)' Srics. Kronberg; t he Neue Galerie am
Landesmuseurn, Graz; the Martin-Gropius- Bau, Berlin; and rhe library staff uf the Tat e Gallery,
London . The book was read in m:mu\CTi pt by Tiro Barringer, Adam Clark- Williams, Thcr uas
Crow, Stephcn j ohnstcoe and Tim Renshaw. all of whom made suggesuous which have grearly
improved t he text. assistant , Liz Atki uson, helped wirh a mass of el usive detail. josephine
Dobbin-Felici translated from rhe Italian. " y wife, Lucia, ga\' e valuable advi ce on an carly draft.
I mu part icularly thank the man}" arrists whu supplicd me wit h informarion.
Fruntispier e l.t VINl 1,1r/it' ColJ Knu/ : 2, page 99 (detaih
SU;" CMulllr""r Tim Barringcr (Dirl..btock College, l ondon]
,,,"it J Di rrer"r, H.lrrr N. Abr""'I, 1"(, Eve Sinaiko
Srnior Edir...r ) ack)' Cojhss IlaeH'Y
Duigl1cr Karcn DQI', l.ondon
Cova .\t iko MeGint y
Pie/l/rr Edir." Small Bolsom-Morns
Library of Co ngrcss Cat310g Card Numbcr: 95-79738
(l-13-.l6f.lOU-6
Cop)Tiglu O 19';15 Calmann and King, Lrd.
Published in 1995 IIaIT)' N. Abrams, lncorporared, New York
:\I mes Min or
.>\ 11 right J reserved. No p;.rt uf the ((.ntf'nUof hook may be reproduocd
wnhout rhe wriu en permission of the publ isher
This 0001< was pr od uced by Calmann ami King, LId ., Lo ndon
Printed and hound in Sllg<l pllTe
Contents
INTRODu c n ON Tradition and AVOIlt-Garde 7
ONE Alterll atives to Modernism: tite 1970.1 17
A New \llomen's Art 18 Performance Art 26 Thr Trials nf Conccptualjsm .E
TIte Spectre of Aflinna tive Painring 37
TWO Pailltillg and Politics: 1976-90 43
Thc Rcturn of rhc fi gure and of "Expresvion" 44
Expressionism Conrcsrcd 51 Snmething called "posr-Modcmism'' 57
Painting and "[he l-emi nine" 67
THREE Stolen Forms: 1976-90 73
Photography and Gcmlcr 74 Objccrs and rhc Markct 83
Painting and Appropri ation 95
FOUR Art uii thin tite Musmm: tit e later 1980.1 105
Culture lt self as a Subjcct 106 lnstallarion as Jeray t !
Thc Curaror's Part 126 Thc Powcc ofthc Photograph 1 ~ )
A Kind of Puh licity 134
FlVE Narrating Idcntitv: lit e early 1990.1 143
Thc Body and AIDS 143 West-Ccsst post-Modcrnislll 148
lnsrallarion and rhe dclass 151 Narrating thc Body 158 Thc Discoursc uf Racc 162
SIX Coda: Future Prospects 167

T1MELINE 170
BlBLlOGRAPHY 172
PICTURE CREDlTS 173
INDEX 174