Arresting Images: Impolitic Art and Uncivil Actions

By Steven C. Dubin

Book Overview

Although contemporary art may sometimes shock us, more alarming are recent attempts to regulate its display. Drawing upon extensive interviews, a broad sampling of media accounts, legal documents and... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0415904358
• ISBN13: 9780415904353
• Release Date: October 1992
• Publisher: Routledge
• Length: 368 Pages
• Weight: 1.85 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.2" x 6.2" x 1.3"

Customer Reviews

An enlightening course in understanding

Dubin presents controversy between the art world and the political and religious realms in a way that is objective and enlightening. A few of these readings, mainly the chapters on Andres Serrano and Robert Mapplethorpe, were assigned in a "Contemporary Art in America since 1945" Art History class I took last year. I found this information incredible and I believe it has a poignant place in our history. The discussions that these works generated are amazing and says a great deal about the status of art in our society and the politics unavoidably surrounding it in American contemporary culture.

Tedious in places, but rewarding overall.

How did so many "shocking" photographers and performance artists become wildly famous (albeit, underpaid) towards the end of the Reagan era? By pissing off religious and polical leaders, that's how! Tedious in places, but rewarding overall.