Dimensions
250 x 290 x 18mm
Part of the Contemporary Artists series.
Jimmie Durham is an internationally acclaimed artist, writer and poet of Cherokee descent. His intricate sculptures and installations mimic the attributes of humans and animals, and the ways they make or are made into history. Durham collages discarded objects and fragments of organic matter, transforming them with dazzling colour into startling, anthropomorphic configurations. His sculptures, wall-based collages and ersatz ethnographic displays deliver ironic assaults on the colonising procedures of Western culture and weave a complex thread of puns, poetry and political invective.
An activist in the American Indian Movement during the 1970s, he has published poetry, fiction and critical theory. Featured in Documenta IX (1992) his work has also been exhibited a the Whitney Museum, New York, Ghent and Brussels museums of art and the ICA, London.
The survey by Mulvey explores themes of history, language, space and time in Durham's work; Belgian curator, Snauwaert, talks with the artist about his multi-faceted practice; and Durant analyses Durham's diary of Shakespeare's Caliban. Durham's writings include essays, poems, and a screenplay published here for the first time.
'Contemporary Artists' is a series of authoritative and highly illustrated studies of important artists of the late 20th century. Each title offers a comprehensive survey of individual artists' works. Different genres of art writing are contributed by an international spectrum of authors who are leading figures in their fields, ranging from art history and criticism to philosophy, cultural theory and fiction. Each study provides incisive analyses and multiple perspectives on contemporary art and its inspiration. These are essential source books for everyone concerned with art today.
