Comprised of nearly fifty paintings, sculptures and works on paper, The Abstract Impulse highlights artists in such critical movements as Abstract Expressionism, Minimalism, and Op Art. Artists who are included are such canonical figures as Robert Motherwell, Jasper Johns, Helen Frankenthaler, and Robert Mangold among others. This publication, together with its coinciding exhibition, seeks to unveil the pluralistic ways in which abstraction developed after 1950, which will be revealed by the grouping of the works stylistically and thematically into three general sections: gesture, geometry, and introspection.
Music is surrounded by movement, from the arching back of the guitarist to the violinist swaying with each bow stroke. To John Paul Ito, these actions are not just a visual display; rather, they reveal what it really means for musicians to move with the beat, organizing the flow of notes from beat to beat and shaping the sound produced. By developing "focal impulse theory," Ito shows how a performer's choices of how to move with the meter can transform the music's expressive contours. Change the dance of the performer's body, and you change the dance of the notes. As Focal Impulse Theory deftly illustrates, bodily movements carry musical meaning and, in a very real sense, are meaning.
“It seemed like a good idea at the time” has been the limp excuse of many a person whose actions later became cause for regret. Although we see ourselves as rational beings, we are far more likely to act according to impulse than logic. Nor is this always a bad thing, David Lewis suggests. Impulse explores all the mystifying things people do despite knowing better, from blurting out indiscretions to falling for totally incompatible romantic partners. Informed by the latest research in neuropsychology, this eye-opening account explains why snap decisions so often govern—and occasionally enrich—our lives. Lewis investigates two kinds of thinking that occur in the brain: one slow and reflective, the other fast but prone to error. In ways we cannot control, our mental tracks switch from the first type to the second, resulting in impulsive actions. This happens in that instant when the eyes of lovers meet, when the hand reaches for a must-have product that the pocketbook can’t afford, when “I really shouldn’t” have another drink becomes “Oh why not?” In these moments, our rational awareness takes a back seat. While we inevitably lose self-control on occasion, Lewis says, this can also be desirable, leading to experiences we cherish but would certainly miss if we were always logical. Less about the ideal reasoning we fail to use than the flawed reasoning we manage to get by with, Impulse proves there is more to a healthy mental life than being as coolly calculating as possible.
We live in a world constantly in need of repair. Our cars break down. Marriages weaken, friendships sour, ties between nations are rent. Yet we fix things and relationships all the time, without giving these activities much thought. Repair is the first book to offer an in-depth exploration of this core aspect of human life.
WINNER: American Book Fest Best Book Award 2020 - Communications/Public Relations WINNER: NYC Big Book Award 2020 - Marketing and Public Relations Saying sorry is in crisis. On one hand there are anxious PR aficionados and social media teams dishing out apologies with alarming frequency. On the other there are people and organizations who have done truly terrible things issuing much-delayed statements of mild regret. We have become addicted to apologies but immune from saying sorry. In January 2018 there were 35 public apologies from high-profile organizations and individuals. That's more than one per day. Between them, in 2017, the likes of Facebook, Mercedes Benz and United Airlines issued over 2,000 words of apologies for their transgressions. Alarmingly, the word 'sorry' didn't appear once. This perfectly timed book examines the psychology, motivations and even the economic rationale of giving an apology in the age of outrage culture and on-demand contrition. It reveals the tricks and techniques we all use to evade, reframe and divert from what we did and demonstrates how professionals do it best. Providing lessons for businesses and organizations, you'll find out how to give meaningful apologies and know when to say sorry, or not say it at all. The Apology Impulse is the perfect playbook for anyone - from social media executive through to online influencers and CEOs - who apologise way too much and say sorry far too infrequently.
"'Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse' is the first large-scale exhibition focusing on the works of two major figures in American and African American art history: Bill Traylor (1854-1949), a draftsman, and William Edmondson (1874-1951), a sculptor. Although Traylor and Edmondson are typically defined as "folk" or "outsider" artists whose works reflect the roots of African American culture, their work was discovered and first discussed in the broader context of modernism. Born a slave in 1854, Bill Traylor worked as a cotton laborer throughout much of his life. At the age of 85, while living on the streets in downtown Montgomery, Alabama, he picked up a pencil and began to draw. When he died ten years later, he had created more than 1,500 works of art that simultaneously pulse with the musical energy of the blues and reflect on the economic depression and race relations in Alabama during the 1930s and 1940s. William Edmondson was born into poverty in 1874, and in the early 1930s he began to gather discarded stones carving them into simple, but powerful tombstones. He died in 1951 leaving behind a body of work full of strongly abstract forms and divine inspiration. Paradoxically, Edmondson and Traylor were among the first African Americans to gain recognition from the official art world. In 1937 Edmondson was the first black artist to be exhibited at The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and Traylor's work was shown both in Montgomery and in New York in the 1940s. After World War II and the deaths of both artists (1949 and 1951), shifting priorities in institutional culture, politics, and taste, but especially the dominance of Greenbergian aesthetic dogmatism, removed artists like Traylor and Edmondson from a (by now much narrower) view of modern art. As a result, the work of both artists fell into oblivion for several decades. However, the civil rights movement and black cultural movements in the 1960s paved the way for a reevaluation and rediscovery. ... 'Bill Traylor, William Edmondson, and the Modernist Impulse' is the first exhibition, however, in which their work and careers will be discussed outside of the reductive framework of "self-taught" art -- namely, within the broader context of American and European culture of the first half of the twentieth century. The aesthetic language of the work of both Edmondson and Traylor, its simplicity, freshness, and independence -- in other words, its radical modernity -- made it so attractive for young artists, photographers, and curators who were part of the modernist movement in America in the 1930s. This exhibition and publication are part of a broader tendency to revisit the history of modernism in the United States and especially those exponents who have been excluded from the canon of modern art for several decades. It is time to discuss and recognize the role and place of Bill Traylor and William Edmondson and their work outside the ghetto of "outsider" and "self-taught" art. This exhibition and publication offer a vehicle to better understand the aesthetic language of this work and the larger framework of cultural and social impulses to which it is related. But most importantly, the exhibition positions Traylor and Edmondson within the aesthetic discourse and institutional framework of modern art, which since World War II has increasingly become a synonym for mainstream, established art."--
What impulses lead us to ask philosophical questions and pursue philosophical enquiry? In a series of stimulating essays fourteen distinguished thinkers examine philosophy and their own engagement with it. Titles such as "How philosophers (who lose their faith) redefine their subject," "Philosophical plumbing," "Putting into order what we already know" and "Is philosophy a 'theory of everything'?" indicate the range of topics and the lively and provocative ways in which they are tackled.
The first large-scale exhibition exploring contemporary abstract painting. In a major exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, director Jeffrey Deitch considers the reemergence of abstract painting among a broad range of artists whose work is as diverse conceptually as it is aesthetically. Looking back to Andy Warhol’s seminal Shadow, Oxidation, and Rorschach paintings as among the many touchstones that underwrite the contemporary impulse to abstraction, the show features artists such as Julie Mehretu, whose large-scale works densely layer maplike markings; Josh Smith, whose lush canvases often explore a single theme repeatedly, such as his signature; and Tauba Auerbach, whose highly formal explorations of materials challenge conventional modes of perception. Additional artists include Rudolf Stingel, Christopher Wool, Glenn Ligon, Urs Fischer, Mark Bradford, Wade Guyton, Kelley Walker, Seth Price, Kerstin Brätsch and Adele Röder, and Sterling Ruby. The exhibition catalogue features a roundtable discussion between Jeffrey Deitch, art historian Johanna Burton, and curators James Meyer and Scott Rothkopf.
Key Writers on Art: The Twentieth Century offers a unique and authoritative guide to modern responses to art. Featuring 48 essays on the most important twentieth century writers and thinkers and written by an international panel of expert contributors, it introduces readers to key approaches and analytical tools used in the study of contemporary art. It discusses writers such as Adorno, Barthes, Benjamin, Freud, Greenberg, Heuser, Kristeva, Merleau-Ponty, Pollock, Read and Sontag.
