Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting [Hardcover]

Barry Schwabsky (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 23, 2002

With a concept similar to "cream", this text is an image-heavy book offering an overview of the state of painting today, and documents the most recent concerns and ideas among contemporary painters. In the wake of media such as installation, video, performance and digital art, the traditional medium of painting has enjoyed a renaissance among a recent generation of artists. Alongside the ever-growing reputation of significant living painters such as Gerhard Richter, Agnes Martin and Peter Halley, many younger artists have chosen painting over any other medium, and are exploring new means to broaden the traditional field of "oil on canvas". It is this younger generation (who emerged in the 1990s) that "Vitamin P" aims to represent in an A-Z survey of 114 of its leading, international practitioners, with each artist illustrated by numerous examples of his or her works, accompanied by a short explanatory text. Often moving beyond the most traditional image associated with this medium, This survey hopes to illustrate the richness, eclecticism, dynamism and contemporaneity of the practice of painting today.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"... the most lavish, comprehensive and useful guide to the new painting." Art Monthly "... a handsome, dazzlingly produced art book.... Vitamin P is better than a biennial, a convincing show of painting's continuing ability to reinvent itself..." Vogue "[Vitamin P] demonstrates the continual reinvention and expansion of painting, be it abstract, figurative or some new hybrid.... This informative, visually striking volume is an up-to-date guide to today's painting." Art in America "[Vitamin P] provides unusual depth for a survey of this scope.... Barry Schwabsky's perceptive introductory essay provides an excellent map of how we got here..." Flash Art "Vitamin P offers heaping servings of some of the liveliest, occasionally strangest work in painting today, accompanied by images that are stunningly printed and laid out.... Vitamin P should be in every library where contemporary art is a matter of interest or even dispute." Artnews "Forget C, D and E - P is the only supplement you'll ever need." Art Review" --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Barry Schwabsky is a regular editor and contributor to Artforum magazine, and has worked as an editor and contributor to various other contemporary art magazines for many years. In his writing and criticism, painting is often privileged over other art mediums and young painters do often attract his attention. He contributed to Phaidon's Jessica Stockholder in the Contemporary Artists series in 1995. He has taught at the Yale School of Art and at New York University among other institutions. He recently moved from New York to London, where he is Visiting Lecturer at the Goldsmiths College. About 30 international authors have written the entries on the 114 artists. Critics, curators, journalists, these authors have been chosen for their knowledge of contemporary art and painting.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Phaidon Press (September 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 071484246X
• ISBN-13: 978-0714842462
• Product Dimensions: 11.7 x 10.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,298,353 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

38 of 45 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Tons of information, great resource, February 14, 2006

By 

Devoted Satellite (washington, DC) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting (Paperback)

This is an intense book filled with a lot of beautiful reproductions from some of the best contemporary painters today. It is a great resource for artists and art lovers alike. I highly recommend it; you will own this book for years and still be able to flip through it and find something new because there are SO MANY artists in it!

(On negative aspect of the book, for some people, is that the type is very small and might be hard to read for people with vision problems. This didn't really both me though.)

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Resource Book For Painters, January 1, 2009

By 

S. Deluca "Grimoire Author" (New England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting (Paperback)

I wanted a resource book that spoke about contemporary painters of today. I was tired of walking into chain book stores and seeing shelves filled with books detailing works by painters such as Picasso, Marc Chagall, O'Keefe and other wonderful artists who molded the richness and wonder of modern painting. I wanted to know what's new in the art world without resorting to glossy art magazines and trips to distant galleries. I wanted to see more works by female painters. Vitimin P is my answer. I'm glad to see that female painters such as Cecily Brown, Lucy McKenzie, Elizabeth Peyton and Karen Kilimnik are highlighted in this book. The brilliant Marlene Dumas is also included within the pages of Vitamin P. Talented men such as Denis Castellas and Merlin Carpenter are givin equal time. The book is evidence that painting is alive, evolving and strong today.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fulfilling Requirements, July 16, 2008

By 

M. Garza (Austin, TX USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Vitamin P: New Perspectives in Painting (Paperback)

Schwabsky manages to pull together precise & intelligent critical essays of an enlightening array of painters from all over the world. The selection of images from each artist's oeuvre is generous. Big names like Currin and Ghada Amer appear alongside lesser-knowns with little academic biases. The only beef, really, I have with this wonderful volume of contemporary painters is the miniscule sizing of the actual text. Tedious to acknowledge, but the problem is actually distracting. This may be natural hierarchization, but the text size is 6 or 8, at the most. Have plenty of focused light nearby when turning pages & enjoy!