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Contemporary Art and Classical Myth


Contemporary Art and Classical Myth

Paperback by Wallace, Isabelle Loring; Hirsh, Jennie

Contemporary Art and Classical Myth

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£39.99

ISBN:
9781138246492
Publication Date:
19 Oct 2016
Language:
English
Publisher:
Taylor & Francis Ltd
Imprint:
Routledge
Pages:
394 pages
Format:
Paperback
For delivery:
Estimated despatch 23 - 28 May 2024
Contemporary Art and Classical Myth

Description

Contemporary art is deeply engaged with the subject of classical myth. Yet within the literature on contemporary art, little has been said about this provocative relationship. Composed of fourteen original essays, Contemporary Art and Classical Myth addresses this scholarly gap, exploring, and in large part establishing, the multifaceted intersection of contemporary art and classical myth. Moving beyond the notion of art as illustration, the essays assembled here adopt a range of methodological frameworks, from iconography to deconstruction, and do so across an impressive range of artists and objects: Francis Alÿs, Ghada Amer, Wim Delvoye, Luciano Fabro, Joanna Frueh, Felix Gonzales-Torres, Duane Hanson, Yayoi Kusama, Roy Lichtenstein, Kara Walker, and an iconic photograph by Richard Drew subsequently entitled The Falling Man. Arranged so as to highlight both thematic and structural affinities, these essays manifest various aspects of the link between contemporary art and classical myth, while offering novel insights into the artists and myths under consideration. Some essays concentrate on single works as they relate to specific myths, while others take a broader approach, calling on myth as a means of grappling with dominant trends in contemporary art.

Contents

Contents: Introduction, Isabelle Loring Wallace and Jennie Hirsh; Prologue: Faraway, so close; mythic origins, contemporary art: the case of Kara Walker, Lisa Saltzman. Section I Myth as Meaning: A poetics of becoming: the mythography of Cy Twombly, Craig G. Staff; Art is glimpsed, Sharon Hecker; Narcissus, narcosis, neurosis: the visions of Yayoi Kusama, Jody B. Cutler; The porous space of Bracha L. Ettinger's Eurydices, Marisa Vigneault; Double take, or theorizing reflection in Felix Gonzalez-Torres, Jennie Hirsh. Section II Myth as Medium: Lichtenstein's Narcissus, Graham Bader; Philomela as metaphor: sexuality, pornography and seduction in the textile works of Tracey Emin and Ghada Amer, Giulia Lamoni; Icarus returned: the falling man and the survival of antiquity, Sharon Sliwinski; Deep shit: thoughts on Wim Delvoye's Cloaca project, Isabelle Loring Wallace. Section III Myth as Method: A new Parrhasius: Duane Hanson's uncanny realism, Elizabeth Mansfield; Over and over, again and again, Emma Cocker; Video art in the house of Hades, Sophie-Isabelle Dufour. Section IV Epilogue: The Sphinx unwinds her own sweet self, Joanna Frueh; Bibliography; Index.

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