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Spartacus Chetwynd
Self-Titled Monograph

The UK-based artist Spartacus Chetwynd is known for her baroque, surreal performances that humorously bring together multiple visual references from art history and pop culture. One of Chetwynd's 2007 site-specific performances, sponsored by New York's Creative Time, was titled: "Soylent Green, King Kong, Kasuma & Paul Auster Improvs." She liberally mixes references like Yves Klein's Anthropometries and Hieronymous Bosch characters with heavy metal and Michael Jackson's Thriller, somehow producing a unified whole that is evocative of how our culture disseminates information. As well as performances, Chetwynd who graduated from the Royal College of Art with an MFA in painting, produced a series of small canvases in 2004 and 2005 entitled Bat Opera. They also quote pop culture, while featuring obscure bits of Romanticism gleaned from art history and literature. A well-designed introduction to this emerging artist’s work, this volume is printed on 12 differently colored papers. A beautiful volume!
Edited by Raphael Gygax, Heike Munder, published in Switzerland.
Paperback, 296 pages, 195 color, 146 b&w on colored stock, 7.75" x 10.75", 2008.
$65