Condition: BRAND NEW
ISBN: 9780500026205
Year: 2024
Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd


Description:
A dazzling and intriguing exploration of the use, as a medium, of mirrors and reflective surfaces in contemporary art worldwide.




From the art of Cindy Sherman to Anish Kapoor, from Yayoi Kusama to Tracey Emin, MirrorMirror presents an intriguing and gloriously illustrated global survey of 'reflective' work by more than 150 artists across media, nationalities, genders and locations. The extraordinary range of works featured in MirrorMirror invites us to ponder and reflect upon the nature of reality and our place within the world.




A fascination with mirrors and reflective surfaces is a common theme among artists of the past. Michael Petry's thought-provoking introduction begins with Jan van Eyck's celebrated Arnolfini Portrait (1434), one of the first paintings to feature a significant mirror. Petry references key works by the great masters - from Diego Velazquez's The Rokeby Venus, to Edouard Manet's complex painting A Bar at the Folies-Bergere (1882) and Claude Cahun's Reflected Image in Mirror, Checked Jacket (1928), a seminal photograph for those whose gaze is often upon themselves.




Present-day practitioners are no less intrigued, revisiting historical concerns and approaches for contemporary circumstances, often working with modern technologies and materials, from stainless steel to vinyl and from polished obsidian to sunglass lenses. Petry presents Jeff Koons's Balloon sculptures, Subodh Gupta's stainless-steel life-sized trees and Not Vital's mirror architecture, and also documents works that use actual mirrors, including pieces by Gavin Turk