Art & Today

Art & Today by Heartney, Eleanor. paperback edition. ISBN: 0000714866008.

Targeting the same audience as Phaidons highly successful and long-selling Art Today by Edward Lucie-Smith, Art & Today surveys contemporary art from 1980 to today, discussing over 450 of the most important artists of the last 25 years. Each of the 16 chapters in Art & Today tackles a major theme of contemporary art. This emphasis on broad, thematic relationships defies the narrow, now-tired classifications of medium, period, genre, or geographic region so often regurgitated in contemporary art surveys of this ilk. Instead, Art & Today posits fresh, thought-provoking juxtapositions of artists from different regions, periods and mediums. For instance, in the chapter "Art and the Body," one might find performance discussed alongside figurative painting, sculpture and photography alongside video, and North American artists alongside Asian artists. Internationally renowned art critic and scholar, Eleanor Heartney is respected for her clear language and pragmatic approach to contemporary art. Her straightforward, engaging descriptions and explanations will appeal to both experts and newcomers alike.