A new volume in the acclaimed World of Art series: featuring work across a range of media that represents the human body. This international survey presents art made over the last two decades in which the human form is central. From painting and sculpture to installation, video art, and performance, it examines the roles played by the body in art, from being the subject of portraiture to becoming an active presence in participatory events.

Organized thematically, the book focuses on subjects such as nature and technology, the grotesque, identity politics, and the place of the individual in society. Featuring work by artists such as Matthew Barney, Marlene Dumas, Olafur Eliasson, Oleg Kulik, and Ernesto Neto, it shows how the body continues to be pivotal to the understanding and expression of our place in the universe. 251 illustrations, 202 in colour.

In recent decades, the body has moved from being the subject of traditional portraiture to become an,active presence in live and participatory events. Art historical, socio-political and cultural developments, from radical feminism in the 1970s to contemporary scientific breakthroughs, have all had a profound influence on artists' attitudes to, and representations of, the human form.

The Body in Contemporary Art presents an international survey of art made since the early 1990s that has the body as its focus. Organized thematically, it examines such areas as nature and technology, the grotesque, identity politics and the place of the individual in society. From painting and sculpture to installation, video art and performance, Sally O'Reilly reveals the myriad ways in which the body has inspired a generation of artists.

Featuring the work of both renowned and up-and-coming figures, including Francis Alys, Marlene Dumas, Matthew Barney, Oleg Kulik, Rineke Dijkstra and Ernesto Neto, this book shows how the body continues to be pivotal to our understanding and expression of our place in the universe.

Introduction

Chapter 1 Representation and Presence

Chapter 2 The Body in Time and Space

Chapter 3 Difference and Solidarity

Chapter 4 Nature, Myth,Technology

Chapter 5 Monstrous Bodies

Chapter 6 Over To You

Further reading

List of illustrations

Index