wonderful! great photography, great choice of work. ( )

...an ambitious and worthy representation

From Brazil to Central America, Mexico to the United States and through to Canada, from Andy Goldsworthy pieces to George Segal's Gardens. Be it endangered Richard Serra's Shift in a private field outside Toronto to Walter DeMaria's work, The Broken Kilometer, Soho, or the murals of Mexican artist, Jose Clement Orozco and of course Diego Rivera, amazing works are captured.
The commonality is how these installations at once impose and merge with their landscape.
The thing that strikes me most about the more historically current installations is the sheer delight of them, their playfulness. They are often things to wonder at, delight in.
Whether that installation be in a field, in the desert, near the shoreline, they are amazing.
Architecturally significant sites are included, buildings of significance, or in other situations specific to their site.
Outdoor sculptures and art works in public spaces are part of this comprehensive catalogue including Marc Chagall's three-dimensional monolithic mosaic in Chicago
The sites for indigenous American places are another thing. Often sites of religious or communal significance, the wonder here is for the history of these cultures. The age of these artifacts, the petroglyphs giving insight of the past. The realization of this different history, glimpses into another time, is something to gaze at in awe, as is this wonder that they have survived for us to see.
This photographic journal is a fascinating tour across the Americas. What a fun road trip even visiting a few of these locations would be! Searching out these places, following in the footsteps of Art & Place's presenters would be a worthy adventure.
The scope of works represented is enormous and it is no wonder that it's a joint project of the reputable Phaidon group.
For those of us who are armchair voyagers, who are entranced by landscape installations, this certainly is an ambitious and excellent visual statement about places and spaces across the Americas' panorama that goes beyond geographical information, cataloguing as it does human endeavours of 'art' in the environment.

A NetGalley ARC ( )

ARC provided by NetGalley

One of my favorite aspects of art, has always been art that worked with the place that it's in, such as the work of Andy Goldsworthy who creates ephemeral works that emphasize the beauty of the surrounding areas. And that to me is the best part of that type of art. You can't move it just anywhere else and expect it to have the same impact, its been designed for that area, that place and it's become a part of it and enhances it. And that's what this book collects, some of the best of the best of art/sculpture and the places they inhabit. We see the works of Andy Goldsworthy, Richard Serra, Claus Oldenberg and more accompanied by a short entry that explains the work and who it works with the environment, as well as beautiful large scale photographs.

Phaidon Press has always been one of my favorite art publishers, because of the beautiful photographs of the artwork in the book. Whether it be a full view or a close up, the colors are crisp and sharp, and you can easily make out what the writer is discussing. And this book is no exception. The photos in this book are gorgeous and well laid out and I can't wait to see them in print vs. electronically.

This book belongs in any library wanting to give a good overview/introduction of art as place. 4 out of 5 stars. ( )