Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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19 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Key to Exploring & Understanding Barney's work, October 27, 2002
The challenges of SEEING (much less remembering and understanding) Barney's Cremaster films are not insignificant:
1) They show very rarely (and rarely together or in sequence).
2) Some of them (like Cremaster 3) are so LOOONG even diehard fans can nod off to sleep.
3) Their linear, sequential nature means you can't jump back and forth between them to make connections.
4) Unless you're a Barney junkie, you didn't even SEE a couple of the films yet.
5) Unless you go to the 2002 museum exhibition or you're on dealer Barbara Gladstone's speed dial, you've never seen more than one of Barney's sculptures at a time.So unless you have a photographic memory (and dedicate it to the service of Matthew Barney), it's extraordinarily difficult to build more than impressionistic understanding of this body of work. This book solves that challenge. It's comprehensive documentation of ALL the films, their production, inspiration and symbolic elements make in an indispensable tool, a Rosetta stone, maybe, for gaining an overall perspective of Barney's vision. Whether the artist intends it or not, for better or worse, this book will become THE MAIN SOURCE through which people will encounter his work.
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Top Notch(s), August 30, 2002
A truly wonderful book for anyone minorly interested in mr. barney's work. I could not have asked for a better printed compilation of these films. The price is extremely reasonable, and for anyone that has attempted to see the films/books of the first 3 films made, it is a treat to see these rarely seen images. cremasters 1,4,and 5 are out of print and the films are only available to art collectors in limited edition laserdiscs, or to view upon there original release. The essays are comprehensive of barney's earlier work and the cremaster cycle, and offer explanations and information that links together this mysterious series of films. Also included in this edition are many interesting interviews with collaborators/crew of the 5 films. the book is divided as follows: two very nice essays on barney's work and the films, each film is then given it's own section which are divided by arc-like cut outs, much like a dictionary or bible, but larger. there is a glossary of terms and concepts that the films deal with, and then the interviews. All of the images are printed very well and the over all presentation (white cloth book mark included) is top notch. this allows for the average joe with not much dough to have access to these films.
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6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Gorgeous., April 27, 2005
Nancy Spector, Matthew Barney: The Cremaster Cycle (Guggenheim, 2002)
Nancy Spector's tome may just have been meant as an accoutrement to the Guggenheim's massive Barney exhibition in 2002, but as an accoutrement, it stands out. Not only in its physical dimensions (Amazon's website says the shipping weight of this book is 8.6 pounds, but after lugging it around for six weeks, I'm willing to put money on the idea that it's closer to twenty-five; it's over a foot tall, and easily as thick as one of the larger volumes of the unabridged OED), but in the concept itself. Spector's essay on Barney takes up the first ninety-two pages, after which comes a glossary of Cremaster terms that reads better than any other glossary you've ever read (think of The Dictionary of the Khazars to get an idea, but using all terms that relate to the Cremaster cycle). Then, of course, the photographs. Mostly video and production stills from the films, but also photos of pieces of Barney's original sketches and storyboard, the sculptures made after the films, and other wonderful little oddities. Good stuff, and a must-have for any Barney fan. Those who have just heard the name, but not seen the films, will get an excellent overview of what you've managed to miss. Those who have no idea who Matthew Barney is, check it out to see what all the fuss is about.
In other words, you want this. ****
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