Art Is Magic
Published on 4. May 2023
Book
Hardback
240 pages
978-1-80081-164-5 (ISBN)
Description
'What makes Art is Magic so rewarding is that Deller can write. Strikingly, he finds the literary process "mortifying . . . as though I am slowly dying". Perhaps it is that painful intensity that electrifies his prose, which comes across as crystalline, athletic, earnest yet frequently funny.' - Financial Times
'His work is hilarious and touching' - David Byrne
'Making good political art is almost impossible. Deller makes it fun. What sets him apart is his utopian optimism and belief in people.' - Jonathan Jones, The Guardian
Art is Magic is artist Jeremy Deller's attempt to tie up the key works of his career alongside the art, pop music, film, politics and history that have inspired his work. Much has been written about Deller over the decades but this is the first time he has pulled together all of his cultural touchstones.
The book features work from across Deller's life and art and includes Sacrilege, the inflatable Stonehenge, the Iggy Pop Life Class, The Battle of Orgreave, a recreation of a confrontation from the Miners' Strike, bats (a subject in at least three of Deller's works), Andy Warhol (whom he met in 1986), rave culture, hen harriers pecking out the eyes of a Tory MP, and a giant Chameleon slide.
Art is Magic gives us the most rigorous account of Deller and his work to date.
Something for everybody.
'His work is hilarious and touching' - David Byrne
'Making good political art is almost impossible. Deller makes it fun. What sets him apart is his utopian optimism and belief in people.' - Jonathan Jones, The Guardian
Art is Magic is artist Jeremy Deller's attempt to tie up the key works of his career alongside the art, pop music, film, politics and history that have inspired his work. Much has been written about Deller over the decades but this is the first time he has pulled together all of his cultural touchstones.
The book features work from across Deller's life and art and includes Sacrilege, the inflatable Stonehenge, the Iggy Pop Life Class, The Battle of Orgreave, a recreation of a confrontation from the Miners' Strike, bats (a subject in at least three of Deller's works), Andy Warhol (whom he met in 1986), rave culture, hen harriers pecking out the eyes of a Tory MP, and a giant Chameleon slide.
Art is Magic gives us the most rigorous account of Deller and his work to date.
Something for everybody.
Reviews / Votes
Art is Magic, for sure. And when Jeremy Deller's involved, it's an education, irreverently British and a re-telling of the world around us. And if that's not enough to entice you, buying the book will, as promised by the artist, "bring you good luck and help you do sex better". Bargain. * The Face * Art Is Magic reveals the full, dizzying range of Deller's work to date. * The Observer New Review * Art is Magic is, like a lot of Deller's work, generous in spirit. It should, I think, be essential reading not just for the culturally curious but for the next generation looking to put their own artistic stamp on the world. * ES Magazine * Art is Magic is not like other art books. It is a willfully eccentric overview of his career to date that includes episodes with saucy nightclub owner Peter Stringfellow, pro-wrestler Adrian Street and a top brass band. The text is chatty, self-deprecating, eccentric, wise, opinionated, funny - Deller's voice, in other words. * The i Paper * an intriguing and provocative retrospective * International Times * [Jeremy] lists a number of alternative working titles he had for Art Is Magic - including That's Not Art, which has been said to him a few times during his career. This book firmly proves those people wrong * Buzz Magazine * I get to read a lot of art coffee table books and Jeremy Deller's: Art is Magic is one of the best I've read. * Keeping Tabs newsletter *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United Kingdom
Illustrations
Approx 200, mixture of colour and b/w
Dimensions
Height: 264 mm
Width: 208 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
1200 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-80081-164-5 (9781800811645)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Jeremy Deller studied Art History at the Courtauld Institute and at Sussex University. He won the Turner Prize in 2004 for his work Memory Bucket and represented Britain in the 55th Venice Biennale in 2013. His projects over the past two decades, such as Battle of Orgreave (2001), We're Here Because We're Here (2016) and the documentary Everybody in the Place: An Incomplete History of Britain 1984-1992 (2019) have influenced the conventional map of contemporary art. Deller lives and works in London.