"Offering a critical perspective-rather than a traditional survey, this provocative text explores the art of the last twenty years-the latter 1970s, the 1980s, and the first half of the 1990s-in both a thematic and chronological fashion. Using an engaging and approachable style-and an abundance of color illustrations, it takes a long look at dominant tendencies in contemporary art in the United States, Western and Eastern Europe, and Russia-and provides a series of challenging view points on the most advanced art forms, (...) themes, and issues."--Amazon. (shrink)

This is an international survey of contemporary art, taking a critical look at the work of established artists and exploring broad international trends and movements. The book takes the impact of feminist, structuralist and postmodern theories on the visual arts as a central theme. The dominance of New York as a centre of the art market is discussed and the work of lesser-known artists from around the world is acknowledged. In addition, there are features on contemporary art in France, Britain (...) and Russia. (shrink)