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John Yau

A Thing Among Things: The Art of Jasper Johns Hardcover – December 1, 2008

by John Yau (Author), Jasper Johns (Artist)

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This beautifully illustrated and profoundly original volume of essays by the New York poet and critic John Yau mounts one of the most eloquent defenses of the art and vision of Jasper Johns ever written--going well past tired and traditional Formalist readings of the artist's work to propose a completely new way of reading them: One that is intensely human. Praised by renowned American art historian and critic Jack Flam as, "a brilliantly attentive and original reading of Jasper Johns' work," this volume not only makes many aspects of the artist's work accessible for the first time, but also reveals an emotional tenor to the man whom so many critics have characterized, wrongly, according to Yau, as aloof or hermetic.
Expanding upon the ideas he laid out in The United States of Jasper Johns, published in 1996 by Zoland Books, Yau traces the ways that the artist's work conveys a connection to the common experience--a "sense of life" that encompasses thoughts, memory, consumption, excretion, life, death, time and mortality. Yau's readings of the works are broadened by statements from conversations between the poet and artist that have taken place over the course of the last 30 years. Lending to this sense of intimacy, many of the works collected in this volume come directly from the artist's studio or his private collection, and have rarely been reproduced before. According to Flam, "John Yau focuses his attention on how the artist's pioneering paintings relate to life as it is lived--and on what they tell us about what it means to be mortal and alive in time. Along the way, Yau cuts a much-needed clearing through the tangle of narrowly self-reflexive interpretations that have plagued so much critical writing on Johns' work during the past half century--providing a fresh approach and opening our eyes to Johns' accomplishment in revealing ways. This is a groundbreaking book, written with both precision and passion. It should be read by everyone who cares about modern painting."
John Yau is a poet and critic. He is the author of several books, including The Passionate Spectator: Essays on Art and Poetry, Paradiso Diaspora and Borrowed Love Poems, as well as contributions to monographs and catalogues on Joan Mitchell, Jessica Stockholder, Wifredo Lam and Hiroshi Sugimoto. Since 2004, he has been the Arts Editor of the Brooklyn Rail. He has taught at the University of California, Berkeley, Yale University and the Maryland Institute College of Art, and is currently an Associate Professor of Critical Studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University. He received a Guggenheim Fellowship in Poetry in 2006-2007.

Print length

208 pages
Language

English
Publisher

D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers
Publication date

December 1, 2008
Dimensions

7.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches
ISBN-10

1933045620
ISBN-13

978-1933045627
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Roberta Bernstein
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"John Yau, a poet and art critic, drops the hammer on the orthodoxy regarding Johns... A Thing Among Things is energized... Yau offers bracing interpretations of a range of John's paintings and sculptures. He is especially adept at drawing the artist's formal gestures into the web of meanings the he claims the works strive to impart." --James Gibbons, Bookforum,December/January 2009

About the Author

John Yau is currently an Associate Professor of Critical Studies at Mason Gross School of the Arts, Rutgers University.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ D.A.P./Distributed Art Publishers; 1st edition (December 1, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 208 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1933045620
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1933045627
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.9 pounds
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7.25 x 1 x 9.25 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #454,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,401 in Arts & Photography Criticism
- #1,774 in Individual Artists (Books)

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ddbruno

John Yau cuts through the bs and at the same time elevates the artists body of works

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on June 30, 2021

Verified Purchase

I’m in awe of John Yau! This book is exactly what I’m looking for... the only problem is whoever designed the book has no idea as to the relation of type size to the length of the line. Heartbreaking, because I’m having such difficulty reading Yau’s eloquent words. Please publish in ebook format so that I may read according to my graphic preferences. Thank you

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Pam Fetters

Intriguing Observations about the Work of Jasper Johns

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 7, 2021

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I am training to be a guide for the Jasper Johns exhibit at the Philadelphia Museum of Art (paired with an mirroring exhibit at the Whitney) and this book has been very helpful. The book arrived promptly and in excellent condition.

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on January 2, 2010

Verified Purchase

This book, written by Brooklyn Rail editor John Yau, is an in-depth study of Jasper Johns's art that had been several years in the making prior to its publication and which is the result of several thorough interviews with the artist. Every major painting is explained in detail, tracing the sources and explaining the reasons. Tackling such issues as verticality as a symbol of downfall, color, the relationship between form and background, the importance and significance of objects (brooms, balls,hooks), of body parts (a human thigh and calf in a painting such as "Watchman"), of letters, of words or figures, of signs (in the painting "According to What") etc, this is an erudite text which, at times, is difficult to read, but, then, so is Jasper Johns's art. I, for one, had some misgivings on Johns's late paintings, from the 1980's onward, and this book undoubtedly helped to dissipate them.

Also, the illustrations are first-rate and numerous, which makes the reading easier.

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