Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Just as Picasso's Guernica or Gericault's Raft of the Medusa survive as powerful cultural documents of their time, there will be works from our own era that will endure for generations to come.



Kelly Grovier curates a compelling list of one hundred paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, performances, and video pieces that have made the greatest impact from 1989 to the present. The global cast includes Marina Abramovic , Matthew Barney, Christian Boltanski, Louise Bourgeois, Maurizio Cattelan, Marlene Dumas, Olafur Eliasson, Andreas Gursky, Cristina Iglesias, On Kawara, Jeff Koons, Ernesto Neto, Gerhard Richter, Pipilotti Rist, Kara Walker, and Ai Weiwei. Many of the pieces reflect the cultural upheavals of recent times, from the collapse of the Berlin Wall to the blossoming of the Arab Spring.



A daring yet convincing analysis of which artworks best capture the zeitgeist of our time, Grovier's list also provides a much-needed map through the landscape of contemporary art. Illustrations of key works are supplemented by comparative images, and short texts offer a biography of each artwork, tracing its inception and impact, and offering a view not only into the imagination of the artist but into the age in which we live.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

Library Journal Review

In a marvelous combination of aesthetic sensibility, poetic imagery, and charming wit, art critic and poet Grovier (cofounder, European Romantic Review) examines what particular works of art have to say about our times and about ourselves. Many of the images have echoes of the past, while still managing to be of their own time and, perhaps, of the future. Not all the images cited will resound with all readers, but the great value of the title is the meticulous discussion of each artwork's power to create myths and ideas: to expand and investigate this phenomenon without passing judgment. Grovier raises profound questions: What will survive after we are gone? What will posterity think of our age? How will we be seen as a culture? The excellent illustrations include Christo's vision of orange flags in Central Park, Christian Boltanski's orderly arrangements of clothes in the vastness of Paris's Grand Palais, and Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, as well as the art of Marlene Dumas and the swaying structures of Ernesto Neto's Leviathan Thot. This is at once a major look at contemporary artworks and a personal investigation of the self-image provoked by them. Verdict A thoughtful view of the role of art in our society and its reflection of our culture both collective and personal. This title is a major addition to the literature of art criticism and philosophy.-Paula Frosch, Metropolitan Museum of Art Lib., New York (c) Copyright 2014. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Publishers Weekly Review

In this impressive volume of 100 influential works produced since 1989-with paintings, sculptures, drawings, installations, performances, and video art from artists including Matthew Barney, Andreas Gursky, On Kawara, Kara Walker, and Ai Weiwei-poet and art critic Grovier selects pieces that he believes are ahistorically legible while also reflecting "the essence of the generation that generated it." In essays accompanying each selection, Grovier argues for "the resonance of a given work in social imagination," using text from poets, philosophers, directors, and others to validate his prediction about the work's longevity. Grovier also covers contemporary critical reception, places the work in the context of the artist's oeuvre, points to historical antecedents, and notes unintended consequences, such as the foiled bomb plot that involved Jeff Koons's 1992 sculpture "Puppy." While the author's deftly woven and poetically phrased analyses smartly contextualize his choices, the book's loose organization proves distracting. Broad philosophical questions about art, such as "Can art escape itself?" with an accompanying quote purporting to answer the question tend to undermines Grovier's meticulous translation of philosophical zeitgeist for general readers. Overall, Grovier provides an ambitious and convincing survey of contemporary art that hovers delightfully between criticism, history, and an art lover's poetic tribute. 242 illus., 223 in color. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.