Book Reports

Attempting to tap into everyone’s potential as a creative, Bob and Roberta Smith outlines many tips, tricks, and exercises to make the point that anyone can be an artist. The author is one person—also known as Patrick Brill, an artist, activist, and writer based in the United Kingdom.

Makoto Azuma’s installations merge the craft of floral design with heady conceptual art. In 2002, Azuma opened his atelier Jardins des Fleurs. Based in Tokyo, the flower shop creates otherwordly designs for commercial clients, interactive art experiences, and private commissions. Flower Art explores his body of work by setting these arrangements in ethereal settings.

Figurative art describes work that, according to the Tate Museum’s glossary, “retains strong references to the real world . . . and the human form.” Unrealism explores the past five years of figurative art, celebrating early-career artists and connecting them back to paintings from the past forty years. Edited by Jeffrey Deitch—a Los Angeles curator and dealer well-known in contemporary art circles.

Coinciding with an exhibiton at the British Museum of the same name, Arctic: Culture and Climate is at once a rich documentation of stunning photography and a comment on the very dire situation the Arctic peoples face with global climate change threatening their existence. Many items pictured, such as sealskin kayaks, contemporary art, and traditional clothing, are on display for the first time.

The University of Oklahoma was home to one of the leading architecture schools in post war America. Through the work of instructors such as Herb Greene and Bruce Goff (whose creations are still standing in the state today) emerged the “American School” style of architecture.

A compilation of artists still working today (standouts like Marilyn Minter, Guerilla Girls, Miranda July, and Yayoi Kusama) share motivational stories of their experiences as women artists. Author Abigail Crompton—a visionary in her own right—is the founder of Third Drawer Down, a design studio based in Australia that collaborates with artists to make objects that are affordable and accessible.

Cy Twombly was known to incorporate classic works into his paintings—whether they be pages from books or handwritten quotes and passages. This book centers around Twombly’s more than fifty paintings inspired by classical antiquity.

Originally published in 1993, this book has been updated and expanded to include an introduction by American photographer Nan Goldin, and interviews with many of her subjects. This important chronicle of gender expression, sexuality, and performance lends an intimate framing of Goldin’s dearest friends.