Product Description
A work’s difficulty may be physical or philosophical, geographical or generational, but achieving access must be worth the effort. Smithson’s art, writing, and complex but important role in postmodern aesthetics and criticism seem to many to be purposely inaccessible. In this sympathetic, lucid interpretation, Shapiro makes the game of revelation well worth the candle. The transparency of language, the return to the groundwork beneath the false structure of contemporary art, the philosophical implications of environmental concerns and site-specific creations?all are explored with a view to marking the artist’s place in the intellectual legacy of modern aesthetic discourse. Smithson’s biography is still to be written, and his eventual place in art history is yet to be determined. Until then, this book is a splendid analysis of this powerful thinker and a valuable addition to the literature on contemporary artists
