The distinguished art critic Donald Kuspit reserved a chapter of his book, The Rebirth of Painting in the Late Twentieth Century, for Vincent Desiderio, who, he says, "pictures privacy, with great sensibility and masterful craft" and "Old Master brilliance." This significant monograph, the first on the artist, will gain him the praise and audience his startling accomplishments and empathy deserve, as well as raise him to the top rank of contemporary painters, alongside Mark Tansey, Eric Fischl, John Currin, and Gerhard Richter. More than 100 of Desiderio's works, some of them enormous canvases and triptychs, are faithfully reproduced here, and, thanks in part to five gatefolds their painstaking detail and sweeps of emotion can be truly appreciated. Desiderio's repeated themes and motifs, appearing in often perplexing narratives of great psychological complexity, strike at the intellect and the heart: art history (often manifested in piles of books open to paintings), human intimacy, heroic behavior, and, perhaps most viscerally, the plight of the artist's handicapped son, Sam. Rounding out the volume are many works on paper and excerpts from the artist's sketchbooks, an interview by Donald Kuspit, and essays by Lawrence Weschler, Barry Schwabsky, and Mia Fineman. Most of all, in Desiderio's highly original works, the viewer will rediscover painting's ability to both astonish and move.
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12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry and Vision,
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This review is from: Vincent Desiderio: Paintings 1975-2005 (Hardcover)
Vincent Desiderio's first major book - something many of his admirers have waited for some time to finally see - is fulfilling on a number of levels. The expansive, richly formatted book is a joy to hold and flip through. The images are given plenty of space and there are many fold-outs for larger works. This is definitely a studio book, a teaching book - perfect for in-class discussion as well as personal reflection.
The three texts in the book (two essays on specific works, one interview), provide a great insight into the ways and means of the artist's work. The in depth looks at specific works afford the reader/viewer with new perspectives on Desiderio's entire body of work, and offer rewards for more lengthy consideration of the poetic vision within each work. The depth of Desiderio's engagement with his process, ideas, and the history of painting is both awe-inspiring and daunting. He is a master of his craft and a deft intellectual, able to very precisely describe what he's trying to do while never losing the absolute primacy of the act of painting. In many ways he is a conceptual artist and the facture of oil painting his most potent expressive tool, yet his intuitive responsiveness, his sensitivity to the nuances of the creative work - what happens that we can't plan - is so refreshing. The interview Donald Kuspit conducts with Desiderio is a real treat. It reflects an artist both deeply intellectual and sincerely feeling; yes, we can be both. This book is absolutely essential for anyone interested in what's happening in figurative painting today.
10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
One of the Most Impressive Artist Monographs Ever Created,
By Grady Harp (Los Angeles, CA United States) - See all my reviews (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (VINE VOICE) (TOP 50 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)
This review is from: Vincent Desiderio: Paintings 1975-2005 (Hardcover)
Were there a possibility of a 10 Star rating, this book would easily qualify! As produced by Marlborough Gallery and published by Distributed Art Publishers, Inc. VINCENT DESIDERIO PAINTINGS 1975 - 2005 is everything a fine art monograph should be: entertaining, informative, spiritually moving, and visually illuminating.
Vincent Desiderio is one of our finest contemporary artists in America. His long and successful career has been marked by restoring life to figurative painting, creating canvases that do not shy away from social comment, philosophical investigations, or creative explorations. His paintings vary from small works on paper to huge canvases, vast triptychs, and deeply felt personal statements from drawing to canvas. He has managed to address the human spirit, the plight of survival in a society not always friendly, matters of destiny, of altered life, of illness, of death, and other tragedies and heroisms. His own son Sam born with a devastating birth defect is the subject of a series of now famous paintings that speak of suffering in a very personal way. There is nothing maudlin in his repeated paintings of Sam: what is projected is the love a father and the innocence of a child born into suffering but somehow negating the negative aspects of it all. As if the generous number of illustrations of over one hundred of Desiderio's works weren't sufficient alone to move the reader, the book is greatly enhanced by sensitive essays by Lawrence Wechsler who wisely opens the book with a well illustrated tale of Desiderio's 'Sleep', a painting 96.5" X 288" that belongs to Seven Bridges Foundation in Greenwich, CT - the still titled 'work in progress' says volumes about the artist and the man; by Mia Fineman; and interview with the artist by Donald Kuspit, and a closing evaluation by Barry Schwabsky based on a painting 'Cockaigne' which summarizes all the influences in Desiderio's artistic mind. The glory of this book is not only that it finally pays tribute to a brilliant genius of a painter, but that it also takes the time to include quality reproductions including five gate fold expansive depictions of his huge canvases. Words of praise fail: this book about this artist is one of the finest books to be printed in 2005. Highly Recommended. Grady Harp, December 2005
5.0 out of 5 stars
Breathtaking!,
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This review is from: Vincent Desiderio: Paintings 1975-2005 (Hardcover)
If you are looking for a contemporary painter, whose craft is stunning and vision leaves you speachless, you have arrived. His love and understanding of representational imagery along with a gentle gift of irony and pathos is boundless. Gorgeous and worth every penny. The quality of printing and the design and presentation of the artist work gives you everything you could want when exploring Vincent Desidario's intimate and emotional world.
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