The Creative Underground

Reviews / Votes

"Profoundly imbued with both modern and postmodern philosophies of radical cultural history, this monograph is fundamental reading for exploring how subcultural arts practices affirm and resist everyday norms. Adopting theoretical ideas across the humanities and social sciences, Clements offers a novel outlook on the critical role of revolutionary art, (post-)avant-garde, politically inflected art manifestos, public participation and urban play, amongst others, in understanding the conceptual parameters as well as real-world impacts of what is termed underground art - including oft-unsolicited, insurrectional street art that deliberately operates in social and spatial interstices, typically in contravention of the institutional and conformist confines of the gallery. The eclectic argument is supported by an animated narration style, rich anecdotes and compelling facts, specifically providing deeper understandings of how art-led resistance has served as cultural and political compass of European history. Also, this work asks how both publics and counter-publics have come to define the ambiguous creative (dis)order of the present-day, 'post-work' economy. In all, it lives up to its rationale to map what public art has done, and can do, to make social change happen." - Martin Zebracki, University of Leeds

"The Creative Underground addresses, amongst other things, the question of 'outsider art', the role of play and utopian visions, avant-gardism and autonomy and creative resistance, and draws these themes together in a final discussion of how they relate to conceptions of everyday life." - Howard Feather, Radical Philosophy 2.03