The Artist as Polyhistor

Morell cites Tojner as saying the first part of Kirkeby's art deals with history and the second with nature, but asserts that in fact Kirkeby works within an epistemological space and concentrates on the relationship between science and art as a "polyhistor," or one of the multi-learned. Morell examines Kirkeby's treatment of literature and philosophy, theology, genetics, museology, crystallography, tectonics and architectonics, anti-hermeneutics, scopics, erotics, and cosmology in his paintings. Morell's text makes very good use of his significant access to Kirkeby himself and to the scholarly community that has grown to admire his work. Distributed in the US by the David Brown Book Company. Annotation 穢2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)