Elsewhere: The Tainted Garden and Other Essays on Art, Life, and the Anthropocene

Written between 1991 and 2017, this perceptive commentary on the art and issues of the late 20th and early 21st centuries examines the transitional period from the end of postmodernism to the dilemmas of the present. In these 35 essays, many of which appeared only in translation elsewhere, Levin discusses such relevant "ancestors" as Robert Rauschenberg, Sol LeWitt, Jean Tinguely, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Andy Warhol, Ana Mendieta, and Mike Kelley as well as newer artists. Her incisive prose is lucid, courageous, and suffused with an unconditional love for art that goes to extremes. Linking these essays are the concepts of selective amnesia and creative misunderstanding, plus changes in the nature of time, space, the future, and the meaning of "elsewhere." From the first essay, "Art That Makes Itself," to the last, "Everywhere and Nowhere: From the Myth of Progress to the Sixth Extinction," the undercurrent is an awareness that we exist in the era of the Anthropocene. And, as the environment declines, elsewhere is becoming everywhere.

Publisher: Booklocker.com

Published: 10 April 2020

Format: Paperback / softback, 392 pages

Age Range: 15+

Other Information: 79 Illustrations

Dimensions: 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.1 centimeters (0.52 kg)

Writer: Kim Levin

About the AuthorKim Levin, renowned art critic and curator, author of Beyond Modernism and President Honoraire of AICA, was a regular contributor to The Village Voice for two decades and also to ARTnews. Her writings have appeared in many publications internationally. She has also given lectures at numerous universities and museums in the U.S. and elsewhere.

ReviewsKim Levin's Elsewhere is a must-read. Filled with facts and insights, it could serve as a primer on how to understand recent art as it traverses the most extreme ends of art practice and theory. Elsewhere is brilliant and timely.- Barbara A. MacAdam
"...this is a must-have book for anyone interested in the evolution of late 20th century art and the state of art today--students, curators, critics, and historians as well as generalists. Levin's love of art and her understanding of the society in which they work come through clearly. Levin's Love of art and her understanding of the artists and the society in which they work come through clearly."- Elaine A. King, review in Sculpture Magazine, fall 2020 issue