This collection of essays originally published in various journals and catalogues, have been compiled and introduced by Frascina (visual arts, Keele University, UK) as an overview of the
interrelation of art and modern culture over the past fifty years. The authors are artists, art critics, art historians and combinations of all three. The emphasis is on the ways in which art
reflects and affects the society in which it is created. Frascina divides the work into representations of the past, art and popular culture, the often difficult relationship between artists
and political/art institutions, the Other in art, the recent focus of the body and self-realization in art and concepts of power. The essays reveal the intense interaction between artists and
the world at large. This collection provides another dimension to studies of recent social movements and redefinition of race, gender, identity and of art itself. Annotation 穢2009 Book News,
Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
