Gordon Matta-Clark: Works and Collected Writings [Hardcover]

Gloria Moure (Author), Gordon Matta-Clark (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2006

Gordon Matta-Clark, scion and rebel, died at 35 in 1978 and has since become a cult figure of late-twentieth-century art. Born in New York and trained in architecture at Cornell, he went on to question the field's conventions in vivid projects that excised holes into existing buildings or assembled deeds to New York City alleys and curbs. As the son of the Chilean-born Surrealist painter Roberto Matta and Anne Clark, and godson of Marcel Duchamp, with whom he played a regular game of chess in the Village, Matta-Clark had grown up inside the art world, also working an as assistant to mavericks like Dennis Oppenheim and Robert Smithson. His work and words, while sophisticated enough to make him an "artist's artist," and colossal and outgoing enough to draw public attention and affection, were always also grounded in social or political convictions. He addressed not only space and real estate (in other words, housing), but the ultimate in necessity and nourishment, food. His "Pig Roast" under the Brooklyn Bridge offered passersby 500 pork sandwiches, and Food, the artist-staffed restaurant that he opened with dancer Caroline Goodden in SoHo, became a headquarters for that nascent neighborhood in the early 70s. He consistently broke the boundaries between sculpture and architecture, photography and film, performance and installation, and above all the permanent and the transitory. Once in a while he also broke the law. This book, published in celebration of the gradual opening of Matta-Clark's archives at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal, collects previously unavailable writings, including notecards and notebooks, along with interviews and more than 100 illustrations.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 304 pages
• Publisher: Poligrafa (October 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 8434311097
• ISBN-13: 978-8434311091
• Product Dimensions: 10.2 x 8.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #355,100 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent catalog of primary source material, June 13, 2007

By 

Sarah (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Gordon Matta-Clark: Works and Collected Writings (Hardcover)

This book collects information about Matta-Clark from many sources and makes it all accessible to you, the reader. Matta-Clark died very young and had not yet received wide recognition, so contemporary information about his work is hard to come by. This collection of interviews, photos, criticism, and other relevant documents allows the artist to explain himself in his own words. It is also very nicely bound with a ribbon bookmark.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Amazingly complete!, May 4, 2008

By 

M. G. Hebert "wood chopper" (San Diego, CA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gordon Matta-Clark: Works and Collected Writings (Hardcover)

I am impressed with the amount of information about Matta-Clark that is crammed into this book. So much of his own writings, images of his work, and writings by Matta-Clark scholars. Compared to the catalog from the recent Whitney show, this book is impressive in it's written content, although the images are much smaller. One upside of that is if you are going to scan them for a slide lecture like I am!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Stellar design and content, April 9, 2008

By 

Matthew Kraus (New York, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Gordon Matta-Clark: Works and Collected Writings (Hardcover)

It is incredibly unfair of the previous reviewer to penalize the book itself when their complaint is with the seller. This is an incredibly beautifully designed book, rich in content and context.