Sherrie Levine : Mayhem

by Johanna Burton and Elisabeth Sussman; With contributions by Thomas Crow, David Joselit, Maria H. Loh, Howard Singerman, and Carrie Springer

• ISBN13: 9780300175967
• ISBN10: 0300175965
• Format: Trade Book
• Copyright: 2012-04-10
• Publisher: Whitney Museum of Art

Summary

Although the American artist and conceptual photographer Sherrie Levine (b. 1947) has been the subject of much critical discourse for the past thirty years, she has not been the subject of a comprehensive surveyuntil now. This handsome volume, created in close collaboration with the artist, contains 100 color images that cover the full range of Levine's practice, from classic photographic works and sculptures to lesser-known drawings, paintings, and objects. A selection of writings by the artist and several essays by distinguished art historians augment the artworks. While much of Levine's art has a historical basisdrawing on existing imagery from both high and low cultureher early and continued engagement with digital technology places her firmly within a contemporary context, in which the borrowing, reframing, and reproduction of imagery have become second nature. This book acknowledges the central role Levine has played in the history of appropriation, and also draws attention to her practice of using repetition, serial images, and the pairing of objects, thereby highlighting conceptual threads that run through her work. Above all, however, the publication focuses on the materiality of Levine's art, emphasizing its powerfully seductive nature.

Author Biography

Johanna Burton is director of the graduate program, Center for Curatorial Studies, Bard College. Thomas Crow is the Rosalie Solow Professor of Modern Art at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University. David Joselit is the Carnegie Professor of the History of Art at Yale University. Maria H. Loh is a lecturer in the Department of History of Art, University College London. Howard Singerman is associate professor of contemporary art and theory at the University of Virginia. Carrie Springer is senior curatorial assistant at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Elisabeth Sussman is Curator and Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Adam D. Weinberg is the Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art.