Twenty years of writing on art, performance, and photography.
This collection of short, critical writings on contemporary art, performance, and photography analyzes a wide range of global practitioners, from emerging to established artists. The result is a well-informed, jargon-free survey of significant developments in contemporary art and culture over the past two decades. Among the artists discussed are Francis Alÿs, Laurie Anderson, Chris Burden, William Eggleston, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol.
The subject area examines an important series of interconnected contemporary art practices. Comprising writings on performance-based work, material forms, and photography, the book locates performance within a broader art context. Approachable for a wide audience, it provides scholarly and critical depth along with an accessible writing style. It will particularly appeal to readers closely involved in contemporary art theory and practice, whether students, artists, or academics.
By:
Martin Patrick
Imprint: Intellect Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Edition: New edition
Dimensions:
Height: 244mm,
Width: 170mm,
ISBN: 9781789386745
ISBN 10: 1789386748
Pages: 328
Publication Date: 11 May 2023
Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
List of Figures Acknowledgements Original Sources of Publication Preface: The Performing Observer PART I: PERFORMANCE 1. Chris Burden, Iggy Pop, and the Aesthetics of Early 1970s Performance Art (2004) 2. Laurie Anderson’s Adventures in George W. Bush’s America (2005) 3. David Cross’s Confounding Hybridity (2018) 4. Richard Maloy: Try and Try Again (2010) 5. Victoria Singh: The Waiting Room (2014) 6. Interview with Artist Catherine Bagnall (2015) 7. ‘My Life Is One Big Experiment’: A Conversation with Laurie Anderson (2020) PART II: PHOTOGRAPHY 8. Francis Alÿs and Photography: Snapshots from an Indefinite Vacation (2007) 9. William Eggleston on Film (2006) 10. ‘Vaguely Stealthy Creatures’: Max Kozloff on the Poetics of Street Photography (2002) 11. Vantage Points and Vanishing Spaces: Ann Shelton (2008) 12. Imagined Landscapes and Subterranean Simulacra (2011) 13. Gregory Crewdson: In a Lonely Place (2013) 14. On Taryn Simon’s 2007 series An American Index of the Hidden and Unfamiliar (2010) 15. On the Recent Photographs of Simon Mark (2010) 16. Talking Around (and Around) Yvonne Todd (2012) 17. Cindy Sherman: Morphing Changeling (2016) PART III: PUBLICNESS 18. Encounter (2009) 19. On False Leads, Readymades and Seascapes (2008) 20. Hope Is Not About What We Expect (2011) 21. Echoes, Signs, Disruptions (2015) 22. Billy Apple: Mercurial Consistency (2015) 23. Reorientations (2018) PART IV: VIDEO 24. Shannon Te Ao: A torch and a light (cover) (2015) 25. Watching Sean Grattan’s HADHAD (2015) 26. On Mike Heynes: Video Art, Animation and Activist Critique (2016) 27. Pat Badani: [in time time] (2008) 28. Bogdan Perzyński: Selected Photographic Documents and Video Works (2011) PART V: BOOKS 29. Clement Greenberg: Late Writings ed. Robert C. Morgan, University of Minnesota Press, 2003 30. The Experimental Group: Ilya Kabakov, Moscow Conceptualism, Soviet Avant-Gardes, Matthew Jesse Jackson, University of Chicago Press, 2010 31. Parallel Presents: The Art of Pierre Huyghe, Amelia Barikin, MIT Press, 2012 32. Performing Contagious Bodies: Ritual Participation in Contemporary Art, Christopher Braddock, Palgrave Macmillan, 2012 33. It’s the Political Economy, Stupid: The Global Financial Crisis in Art and Theory, eds. Gregory Sholette and Oliver Ressler, Pluto Press, 2013 34. Zizz! The Life and Art of Len Lye, in His Own Words, with Roger Horrocks, Awa Press, 2015 PART VI: EXHIBITIONS 35. Theresa Hak Kyung Cha (2003) 36. Robyn Kahukiwa (2012) 37. Sad Songs (2005) 38. Shona Macdonald: Simmer Dim (2010) 39. Craig Easton: Collapse (2009) 40. 18th Biennale of Sydney (2012) 41. Simon Starling: In Speculum (2014) 42. Chris Heaphy’s Kaleidoscopic Eye (2012) 43. Niki Hastings-McFall: In Flyte (2013) 44. Simon Morris: Black Water Colour Painting (2015) 45. Dan Graham: Beyond (2009) 46. Richard Long: Heaven and Earth (2009) 47. Split Level View Finder: Theo Schoon and New Zealand Art (2019) 48. Elisabeth Pointon’s Pop Problematics (or the Customer Might Just Be Wrong) (2020) 49. Warhol: Immortal (2013) 50. Is It the Beginning of a New Age? (2016) Notes Bibliography Index
Martin Patrick is an art critic, historian, and writer, and a contributor to a wide range of international publications. He writes on interdisciplinary practices, performance, and experimental uses of media in contemporary art.
Reviews for The Performing Observer: Essays on Contemporary Art, Performance and Photography
'Drawing from his encyclopedic grasp of the visual arts and popular culture, Martin Patrick conjures up previously unexplored associations between art, rock music and film in these cogent essays on contemporary art. Whether characterizing visionary photographer William Eggleston as “unequal parts of William Faulkner, Jerry Lee Lewis and Hunter S. Thompson” or handily comparing conceptualist Chris Burden’s extreme performances to those of Iggy Pop, Patrick’s critical examinations of artworks and artwords are jargon-free, brimming with witty musings, elastic but never overstretched.' -- Barry Blinderman, writer, educator, lecturer and musician 'Martin Patrick is the humane professor I want to stare down the end of twentieth century art days with. With him, I’m ready to face Anne Noble’s “Ice Blink” and the environmental and political corrosion now everywhere on the horizon. In The Performing Observer, Patrick captures art’s odd adjacencies and taxonomies, from Iggy Pop stage diving and writhing to a retrospective of senior Aotearoa painter, Robyn Kahukiwa. Amongst it all, a self-portrait of Patrick emerges: a kindly ophiophilist standing in a snake pit, without the antidote. Incisive and alive.' -- Megan Dunn, author of Tinderbox and Things I Learned at Art School 'Retaining an approachable writing style that will appeal to an arts orientated reader whilst offering scholarly and critical depth is a hallmark of The Performing Observer. Engaging with a unique selection of artists, Patrick discusses performance, photography and material forms, speaking indirectly on how to develop and maintain a writing practice in the contemporary arts.' -- David Cross, Deakin University, Australia
