Margaret Iversen

This is an area of art I'm particularly interested in in my own work, and as such this was tremendously useful and inspiring for me. However, it was also a difficult book to access in many regards, and I read it over the course of several months as it was so dense. Basically, it was a series of essays about various artist's work that have "Chance" as a major element. Chance has several definitions here, which are in themselves interesting - the idea of "chance" simply meaning - not entirely pre-planned, or accessing the sub-conscious intentions of the artist rather than their fully conscious ones, to art that is made by a process that tries to negate the human aspect as much as possible, e.g. a painting made by a machine, or painted according to a random set of instructions. There are artists who have attempted all of the above, and several variations of these as well. The essays really varied in quality and coherence. I'm beginning to discover that some people who write about art like to write like they're experimental poets or something, which isn't always helpful. Also, several of the entries were actually interviews with artists, and again, asking the most pretentious and convoluted question seems to be an ongoing competition. Also, my major quibble with this book is a very straightforward one; why no photos??? It seems odd to write about visual artworks without showing the work in question. I had to read the book in front of the computer so that I could google pictures as I read, which enhanced my experience considerably. This book is part of a long series on themes in contemporary art, and maybe the intention was to keep the cost down, but simple B&W photos would have sufficed in most cases. Overall, for me a very inspiring book, but only because the subject was one I already had a very strong interest in, I think anyone with a less intense interest may have really struggled.… (más)